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RESUMEN Introducción: La leishmaniasis es una enfermedad causada por parásitos del género Leishmania. En Colombia se han informado 10 especies patógenas. El diagnóstico parasitológico tradicional basado en la observación de los parásitos no permite identificar la especie, por lo cual se deben emplear métodos moleculares, entre ellos la reacción en cadena de la polimerasa o PCR convencional, pero esta presenta algunas limitaciones y requiere extensos periodos de tiempo para la obtención de resultados, que en ocasiones no son concluyentes. Objetivo: Evaluar un método basado en PCR en tiempo real acoplado a curva de temperatura de desnaturalización media de alta resolución (PCR-HRM) que permita el diagnóstico y la identificación simultánea de parásitos del género Leishmania en muestras clínicas de humanos y en cultivos in vitro de manera sensible y específica. Métodos: Se estandarizó una PCR-HRM, mediante la cual se evaluaron 237 muestras clínicas, 98 clasificadas como positivas y 139 como negativas, parasitológicamente por directo y/o cultivo. Las tipificaciones fueron comparadas con los resultados en paralelo obtenidos de una variante de la PCR, realizando cortes al amplicon que generó un fragmento de restricción de longitud polimórfica o PCR-RFLP que había sido previamente estandarizada. Resultados: Se logró implementar una PCR-HRM para el diagnóstico e identificación de especies de Leishmania, logrando un 100 % de concordancia con las tipificaciones obtenidas por PCR-RFLP. Incluso, se logró detectar e identificar el parásito en muestras diagnosticadas como negativas por los métodos convencionales. Se encontró que con un porcentaje de confiabilidad superior al 95 %, se lograron tipificar 91 muestras de 98; de estas el 81,63 % de los casos fueron L. panamensis, el 11,22% L. braziliensis e indeterminadas el 7,14 % de los casos. Conclusiones: La PCR-HRM es un buen método que permite la identificación de las especies más prevalentes en Colombia, comparando temperaturas medias de desnaturalización específicas según la especie de Leishmania involucrada.

ABSTRACT Introduction: Leishmaniasis is a disease caused by parasites of the genus Leishmania. Ten pathogenic species have been reported in Colombia. Traditional parasite diagnosis based on observation of the parasites does not make it possible to identify the species. Therefore, it is necessary to use molecular methods, among them conventional polymerase chain reaction or PCR, but this test presents some limitations and requires long periods of time to obtain results which sometimes are not conclusive. Objective: Evaluate a method based on real time PCR coupled with high resolution mean denaturalization temperature curve analysis (HRM-PCR) for the diagnosis and simultaneous identification of parasites of the genus Leishmania in clinical samples from humans and in vitro cultures in a sensitive and specific manner. Methods: Standardization was performed of an HRM-PCR with which 237 clinical samples were evaluated, 98 classified as positive and 139 as negative, by direct parasitological examination and/or culture. The typing obtained was compared with parallel results from a PCR variant, making cuts on the amplicon that generated a restriction fragment length polymorphism or PCR-RFLP previously standardized. Results: An HRM-PCR could be implemented for the diagnosis and identification of Leishmania species, achieving 100% concordance with the typing obtained by PCR-RFLP. It was even possible to detect and identify the parasite in samples diagnosed as negative by conventional methods. Of the total 98 samples, 91 could be typed with a percentage of reliability above 95%. Of these, 81.63% of the cases were L. panamensis, 11.22% were L. braziliensis and 7.14 % were indeterminate. Conclusions: HRM-PCR is a good method to identify the species most prevalent in Colombia, comparing specific mean denaturalization temperatures according to the Leishmania species involved.

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Polymorphic variants p.66L>R/H (g.7081T>G/A; rs10127939) and p.176F>V (g.10872T>G; rs396991) in FCGR3A (CD16A) have been associated with defects in cytotoxic function of natural killer (NK) cells in humans. Genotyping of these variants in genomic DNA has been ambiguous because of high degree of homology between FCGR3A and FCGR3B. We designed a strategy to genotype these polymorphisms and to evaluate their effects on NK cells' cytotoxic activity. One hundred and fifteen individuals from different geographical regions of Colombia were included. Specific primers were designed to amplify FCGR3A exons 4 and 5 encompassing g.7081T>G/A and g.10872T>G by long-range and nested polymerase chain reaction and sequencing. The binding of different monoclonal antibodies to CD16A and NK antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) were evaluated. We demonstrate that amplifying and sequencing FCGR3A allows genotyping of g.7081T>G/A and g.10872T>G without interference from FCGR3B. Allele frequencies in our population were as follows: 7081T = 0.895, 7081G = 0.065, 7081 A = 0.039, 10872T = 0.673, and 10872G = 0.326. We also observed linkage disequilibrium between variants 7081T and 10872G. Interestingly, 176FF variant affected the reactivity of MEM154 monoclonal antibody against CD16A, but it did not affect ADCC. Our studies aimed to determine whether clinical association exists between these polymorphisms and NK cell function defects in patients with compatible phenotypes.

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Nonviral transfection has important implications on gene therapy because of its safety. In particular, polyfection and nucleofection are two widely used systems for nonviral gene delivery. Their potential depends on the transfection efficiency achieved, which is influenced in turn by the type of cells transfected and by the plasmid that carries the gene of interest. The efficiency of transfection by polyfection or nucleofection in human fibroblasts and keratinocytes was evaluated in this study. Transfections were performed with plasmids containing a gene of interest (human cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide) and two reporter genes (red or green fluorescent protein) that included or not an internal ribosome entry site (IRES). The efficiency was measured by flow cytometry in terms of percentage of cells expressing the reporter gene; viability of transfected cells was also evaluated. It was found that nucleofection was more efficient than polyplexes for transfecting fibroblasts, while no significant differences were found between both systems of transfection when applied to keratinocytes. Regarding the viability of fibroblasts after transfection, values were high in both systems. In contrast, keratinocytes were more sensitive to nucleofection. It was also noted that both types of cells decreased reporter gene expression when IRES sequence was located upstream of the reporter gene, suggesting a negative effect on the expression of this gene. These results confirm that the transfection efficiency depends on the type of cells and the system used.

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Biofilm is an extremely complex microbial community arranged in a matrix of polysaccharides and attached to a substrate. Its development is crucial in the pathophysiology of oral infections like dental caries, as well as in periodontal, pulp, and periapical diseases. Streptococcus mutans is one of the most effective microorganisms in lactic acid production of the dental biofilm. Identifying essential Streptococcus mutans proteins using bioinformatics methods helps to search for alternative therapies. To this end, the bacterial genomes of several Streptococcus mutans strains and representative strains of other cariogenic and non-cariogenic bacteria were analysed by identifying pathogenicity islands and alignments with other bacteria, and by detecting the exclusive genes of cariogenic species in comparison to the non-pathogenic ones. This study used tools for orthology prediction such as BLAST and OrthoMCL, as well as the server IslandViewer for the detection of pathogenicity islands. In addition, the potential interactome of Streptococcus mutans was rebuilt by comparing it to interologues of other species phylogenetically close to or associated with cariogenicity. This protocol yielded a final list of 20 proteins related to potentially virulent factors that can be used as therapeutic targets in future analyses. The EIIA and EIIC enzymatic subunits of the phosphotransferase system (PTS) were prioritized, as well as the pyruvate kinase enzyme, which are directly involved in the metabolism of carbohydrates and in obtaining the necessary energy for the microorganism's survival. These results will guide a subsequent experimental trial to develop new, safe, and effective molecules in the treatment of dental caries.

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Although phlebotomine sand flies breeding sites have been identified and recorded by several studies, the microhabitats exploited by these insects remain little-known and hard to find. In this context, the difficulty of finding immature stages, and the limited number of taxonomic studies to identify immature stages of phlebotomine sand flies, are considered the major obstacles when attempting a complete inventory of Lutzomyia species. The objective of this study is to validate Cytochrome Oxidase I (Barcode region) as a marker for the identification of immature stages of Lutzomyia species recovered from natural breeding sites in Colombia. Among 142 collected sand flies, 18 immature individuals that did not complete their life cycle were identified to species level through sequencing of the COI gene. Values of K2P genetic distance between 0.002-0.031 allowed the identification of larvae at species level. The bootstrap support values (96%) in the Neighbor-Joining dendrogram were consistent for the majority of the established MOTUS of Lutzomyia atroclavata, Lutzomyia micropyga, Lutzomyia serrana, Lutzomyia cayennensis, Lutzomyia rangeliana, Lutzomyia shannoni and some species of the genus Brumptomyia. The COI gene is validated as a marker for the identification of immature stages of the genus Lutzomyia.

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Familial Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis type 2 (FHL2) results from mutations in PRF1. We described two unrelated individuals who presented with FHL, in whom severely impaired NK cytotoxicity and decrease perforin expression was observed. DNA sequencing of PRF1 demonstrated that both were not only heterozygous for the p.54R > C/91A > V haplotype but also presented with the novel variant p.47G > V at the perforin protein. Perforin mRNA was found to be increased in a individual with that genotype. A carrier of the novel variant also demonstrated altered perforin mRNA and protein expression. Phylogenetic analysis and multiple alignments with perforin orthologous demonstrated a high level of conservation at Gly47. PolyPhen-2 and PROVEAN predicted p.47G > V to be "probably damaging" and "deleterious", respectively. A thermodynamic analysis showed that this variant was highly stabilizing, decreasing the protein internal energy. The ab initio perforin molecular modeling indicated that Gly47 is buried inside the hydrophobic core of the MACPF domain, which is crucial for the lytic pore formation and protein oligomerization. After the in silico induction of the p.47G > V mutation, Val47 increased the interactions with the surrounding amino acids due to its size and physical properties, avoiding a proper conformational change of the domain. To our knowledge, this is the first description supporting that p.47G > V is a pathogenic variant that in conjunction with p.54R > C/91A > V might result in the clinical phenotype of FHL2.

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Elaborar inventarios de lutzomyia spp., sin considerar los estados inmaduros de dichos insectos, provee información parcial. Investigar los estados inmaduros de lutzomyia, es un reto y necesidad actual especialmente en áreas con transmisión de leishmania spp. El objetivo de este estudio fue detectar sitios de cría naturales, para un inventario de flebotominos adultos e inmaduros del municipio de Colosó (Sucre, Colombia). Los flebotominos fueron recolectados entre mayo y diciembre de 2009, en la estación experimental de fauna silvestre de Colosó. La detección de estados inmaduros se desarrolló por revisión directa de muestras de suelo y árboles, incubación de estos sustratos en laboratorio y por trampas de emergencia. La colecta de adultos se realizó por búsqueda activa diurna con aspiradores bucales en sitios de reposo, principalmente en bases, huecos y raíces tabulares de árboles. Se aislaron 44 inmaduros de flebotominos, de los cuales 32 correspondieron a las especies lutzomyia migonei, Lu. dubitans, Lu. serrana, Lu. cayennensis cayennensis, Lu. micropyga, Lu. evansi, Lu. gorbitzi, Lu. ovallesi y Lu. shannoni. Así mismo, se colectaron 1231 ejemplares adultos entre los cuales Lu. evansi, Lu. micropyga y Lu. trinidadensis fueron, en su orden, las especies más abundantes. Lu. migonei y Lu. gorbitzi constituyen, respectivamente, primeros registros para el departamento de Sucre y la Costa Caribe. Es necesario incluir muestreos de insectos inmaduros como información complementaria en estudios sobre flebotominos y así reunir información sólida para elaborar inventarios de especies señalando los potenciales vectores en focos de leishmaniasis.

Elaborating an inventory for Lutzomyia spp., without considering the immature forms of such insects, gives only a partial information about the species. Investigating immature phlebotomines represents a challenge and urgency especially in Leishmania spp. transmission areas. The objective of this study was to detect natural breeding sites, for an inventory of immature and adult phlebotomine community in the municipality of Colosó, Department of Sucre. Phlebotomine sandflies were collected between May and December of 2009, at the wild life experimental station in Colosó. Detection of immature stages was approached by direct visualization of soil and tree-substrate samples, incubation of substrate in laboratory conditions and use of emergence traps. Adult sampling was conducted by active diurnal search in resting places using bucal aspirators to collect the insects. Resting places were predominantly associated with tree trunks, such as holes in trunks and buttress roots. We collected 44 immatures of phlebotomine sandflies of which 32 belong to the following species: Lutzomyia migonei, Lu. dubitans, Lu. serrana, Lu. cayennensis cayennensis, Lu. micropyga, Lu. evansi, Lu. gorbitzi, Lu. ovallesi and Lu. shannoni. Also, up to 1231 adult individuals were collected and the most abundant species in descending order were Lu. evansi, Lu. micropyga and Lu. trinidadensis. The species Lu. migonei and Lu. gorbitzi are worth noticing given the fact that they represent new records for the Department of Sucre as well as the Caribbean Region in the country. It is necessary to include immature sampling as complementary information on phlebotomine surveys and in this way gather solid information to release proper species inventories with the remarks on potential vectors in leishmaniasis foci.

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