Dogs treated with deslorelin show a significant decrease of clinical scores and serological test, suggesting a possible employ of GnRH agonist in the treatment of canine leishmaniosis. Abstract Sex-associated hormones such as Rabbit polyclonal to ZFP161 testosterone have been demonstrated to modulate immune responses, which can result in different disease outcomes. dogs with canine leishmaniosis (CanL). Twenty-two dogs with CanL confirmed by clinical findings and laboratory tests were included in the study. Dogs were randomized into two groups. A control group (CTR, = 12) was treated with meglumine antimoniate 50 mg/kg SC q 12 h for 28 days plus allopurinol at 10 mg/kg PO q 12 h for the whole study period (six months). An experimental group was treated with allopurinol and meglumine antimoniate, plus an implant of 4.7 mg deslorelin acetate (DES, = 10). The animals were observed for three months, during which clinical evaluation, indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT) titre and testosterone assay were performed on time at day (D)0, 90 and 180. A significantly lower clinical score was recorded in DES than in CTR ( 0.01) at D90 and D180 ( 0.01). After 180 days of treatment (D180), a significant reduction of mean levels of IFAT was observed in the DES group (= 0.03). A highly significant reduction of testosterone (= 0.01) was observed in the DES group during the study. No statistical correlation between clinical scores, IFAT titres and testosterone within two groups was observed. Data suggested that the agonist of GnRH may be useful in the treatment of CanL. currently considered endemic in southern Europe, Africa, Asia and South America [1,2,3,4]. The disease is transmitted by the bite of sandflies of the genus or in the Old and New World, respectively [5]. The spectrum of clinical and clinicopathological findings is wide-ranging from subclinical and self-limiting to severe disease and is related to the predominant response of the immune system [6,7,8,9,10,11]. The immune response plays an important role in the progression and outcome of disease [12]. Moderate/several clinical forms are associated with an exuberant humoral response mediated by type 2 T helper cell (Th2), while the protective immune response is mediated by T helper cell (Th1) and is correlated with disease resolution [11,12,13]. It has been reported that different factors not related to the immune system may be involved in the effectiveness of immune response and the development of CanL [14]. Sex hormones such as androgens, oestrogens and progestins may have a critical role in defining the intensity of parasite infection by modifying the interplay between the parasite and definitive host. Indeed, receptors for sex hormones are Camobucol present on the surface of macrophages and T cells, the two major cell types involved in the progression of the disease. It has been hypothesized that testosterone has immunosuppressive effects [15]. Moreover, sex hormones oestrogen and progesterone promote the Th2 immune response, while testosterone seems to favour type Th1 immune response [16]. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone GnRH agonist slow-release implants are widely considered to be a reversible alternative to surgical neutering on males [17]. The action of a GnRH agonist is related to the desensitization of receptors to GnRH, which results in a temporary long-term downregulation of testicular endocrine function in male dogs [18,19]. Given the possible role of testosterone in spp. infection, the authors have evaluated the effect of treatment with GnRH agonist (deslorelin acetate implant) in association with meglumine antimoniate plus allopurinol on dogs affected by CanL in reducing clinical signs of disease and indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT) titre. 2. Materials and Camobucol Methods 2.1. Animals Client-owned unaltered male dogs admitted to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital of the University of Messina were enrolled. Inclusion criteria were an anti-antibody titre higher than 1/320 in IFAT (cut off 1:80) [20] and cytological identification of amastigotes or detection of parasite DNA using real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), associated with clinical signs and/or laboratory abnormalities corresponding to LeishVet CanL clinical stages [6]. Vaccinated dogs were excluded as well as they have received in at least the 3 months before previous treatments allopurinol, meglumine antimoniate, miltefosine, domperidone, ciclosporin or glucocorticoids or special diet or dietary supplements to improve the Camobucol immune response. Furthermore, all dogs included in the trial were tested against ehrlichiosis infection was conducted by an investigator blind.
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