Evaluation of the cutaneous inflammatory cells in dogs with leishmaniosis and in dogs without the disease that were naturally infected by Leishmania infantum (syn. L. chagasi)

• Published in: Veterinary dermatology 2021-04, Vol.32 (2), p.99-e19
• Main Authors: Hernandez‐Bures, Andrea, Gillen, James, Apostolidis, Kosmas, Saridomichelakis, Manolis, Di Loria, Antonio, Santoro, Domenico
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amastigotes; Animals; Biopsy; Biopsy - veterinary; Bone marrow; Cytokines; Dog Diseases; Dogs; Foxp3 protein; GATA-3 protein; Immune response; Immunofluorescence; Infiltration; Inflammation; Interleukin 1; Leishmania; Leishmania infantum; Leishmaniasis; Leishmaniasis - veterinary; Leukocytes (neutrophilic); Lymph nodes; Lymphocytes; Lymphocytes T; Neutrophils; Paraffin; Skin
• ISSN: 0959-4493; 1365-3164
• DOI: 10.1111/vde.12922

Background Canine leishmaniosis (CanL) is associated with an aberrant cutaneous immune response. Few studies have compared cutaneous immune cells among dogs with leishmaniosis or infected without leishmaniosis, and noninfected dogs. Hypothesis/Objective Evaluate the number of neutrophils, histiocytes, T lymphocytes, T‐bet‐positive, GATA3‐positive, FoxP3‐positive and interleukin (IL)‐17‐positive cells, in lesional (Group A) and normal‐looking (Group B) skin of nine dogs with stage II/III leishmaniosis; in normal‐looking PCR‐positive (Group C; n = 6) or PCR‐negative (Group D; n = 6) skin of infected dogs; and in the normal‐looking skin of 12 noninfected dogs (Group E). Methods and materials Diagnosis of CanL considered clinical signs, clinicopathological abnormalities, detection of Leishmania amastigotes in lymph nodes, and/or bone marrow and positive serological results. Paraffin‐embedded skin biopsies were processed for routine immunofluorescence and positive cells were identified using commercially available anti‐canine antibodies. Results In Group A, there was a significantly higher number of neutrophils (P