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Rik Hendrickx, Roma Melkamu, Dagimawie Tadesse, Tedla Teferi, Pim-Bart Feijens, Margot Vleminckx, Saskia van Henten, Fabiana Alves, Tamiru Shibru, Johan van Griensven, Guy Caljon, Myrthe Pareyn, Spliced-Leader RNA as a Dynamic Marker for Monitoring Viable Leishmania Parasites During and After Treatment, The Journal of Infectious Diseases, Volume 230, Issue 1, 15 July 2024, Pages 183–187, https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiae219
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Abstract
Accurate detection of viable Leishmania parasites is critical for evaluating visceral leishmaniasis (VL) treatment response at an early timepoint. We compared the decay of kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) and spliced-leader RNA (SL-RNA) in vitro, in vivo, and in a VL patient cohort. An optimized combination of blood preservation and nucleic acid extraction improved efficiency for both targets. SL-RNA degraded more rapidly during treatment than kDNA, and correlated better with microscopic examination. SL-RNA quantitative polymerase chain reaction emerges as a superior method for dynamic monitoring of viable Leishmania parasites. It enables individualized treatment monitoring for improved prognoses and has potential as an early surrogate endpoint in clinical trials.