The Journal of Experimental Medicine
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Published online 19 June 2000.
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© The Rockefeller University Press, 0022-1007/2000/6/2121/ $5.00
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, Volume 191, Number 12, June 19, 2000 2121-2130

Original Article

Fibroblasts as Host Cells in Latent Leishmaniosis

Christian Bogdana, Norbert Donhausera, Reinhard Döringa, Martin Röllinghoffa, Andreas Diefenbacha, and Michael G. Rittigb
a Institute of Clinical Microbiology, Immunology, and Hygiene,
b Department of Anatomy, University of Erlangen, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany

Correspondence to: Christian Bogdan, Institut für Klinische Mikrobiologie, Immunologie und Hygiene, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Wasserturmstrasse 3, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany. Tel:49-9131-85-22647 Fax:49-9131-85-22573 or -85-1001 E-mail:christian.bogdan{at}mikrobio.med.uni-erlangen.de.

Intracellular parasites are known to persist lifelong in mammalian hosts after the clinical cure of the disease, but the mechanisms of persistence are poorly understood. Here, we show by confocal laser microscopy that in the draining lymph nodes of mice that had healed a cutaneous infection with Leishmania major, 40% of the persisting parasites were associated with fibroblasts forming the reticular meshwork of the lymph nodes. In vitro, both promastigotes and amastigotes of L. major infected primary skin or lymph node fibroblasts. Compared with macrophages, cytokine-activated fibroblasts had a reduced ability to express type 2 nitric oxide synthase and to kill intracellular L. major. These data identify fibroblasts as an important host cell for Leishmania during the chronic phase of infection and suggest that they might serve as safe targets for the parasites in clinically latent disease.

Key Words: Leishmania major, fibroblasts, persistent infection, nitric oxide, macrophages


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