Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress triggers the integrated ER-stress response (IERSR) that ensures cellular survival of ER stress and represents a primordial form of innate immunity. We investigated the role of IERSR during Leishmania amazonensis infection. Treatment of RAW 264.7 infected macrophages with the ER stress-inducing agent thapsigargin (TG; 1 mM) increased L. amazonensis infectivity in an IFN1-a receptor (IFNAR)-dependent manner. In Western blot assays, we showed that L. amazonensis activates the inositol-requiring enzyme (IRE1)/ X-box binding protein (XBP)-1-splicing arms of the IERSR in host cells. In chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays, we showed an increased occupancy of enhancer and promoter sequences for the Ifnb gene by XBP1 in infected RAW 264.7 cells. Knocking down XBP1 expression by transducing RAW 264.7 cells with the short hairpin XBP1 lentiviral vector significantly reduced the parasite proliferation associated with impaired translocation of phosphorylated IFN regulatory transcription factor (IRF)-3 to the nucleus and a decrease in IFN1-b expression. Knocking down XBP1 expression also increased NO concentration, as determined by Griess reaction and reduced the expression of antioxidant genes, such as heme oxygenase (HO)-1, that protect parasites from oxidative stress. We conclude that L. amazonensis activation of XBP1 plays a critical role in infection by protecting the parasites from oxidative stress and increasing IFN1-b expression.-

Leishmania amazonensis activates the NF-κB transcriptional repressor homodimer (p50/p50) and promotes nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) downregulation. We investigated the role of PI3K/Akt in p50/p50 NF-κB activation and the effect on iNOS expression in L. amazonensis infection. The increased occupancy of p50/p50 on the iNOS promoter of infected macrophages was observed and we demonstrated that both p50/p50 NF-κB induction and iNOS downregulation in infected macrophages depended on PI3K/Akt activation. Importantly, the intracellular growth of the parasite was also impaired during PI3K/Akt signalling inhibition and in macrophages knocked-down for Akt 1 expression. It was also observed that the increased nuclear levels of p50/p50 in L. amazonensis-infected macrophages were associated with reduced phosphorylation of 907 Ser p105, the precursor of p50. Corroborating these data, we demonstrated the increased levels of phospho-9 Ser GSK3β in infected macrophages, which is associated with GSK3β inhibition and, consequently, its inability to phosphorylate p105. Remarkably, we found that the levels of pPTEN 370 Ser, a negative regulator of PI3K, increased due to L. amazonensis infection. Our data support the notion that PI3K/Akt activity is sustained during the parasite infection, leading to NF-κB 105 phosphorylation and further processing to originate p50/p50 homodimers and the consequent downregulation of iNOS expression.

Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas disease in humans, infects a wide variety of vertebrates. Trypomastigotes, the parasite infective forms, invade mammalian cells by a still poorly understood mechanism. Adhesion of tissue culture- derived trypomastigotes to the extracellular matrix (ECM) prior to cell invasion has been shown to be a relevant part of the process. Changes in phosphorylation, S-nitrosylation, and nitration levels of proteins, in the late phase of the interaction (2 h), leading to the reprogramming of both trypomastigotes metabolism and the DNA binding profile of modified histones, were described by our group. Here, the involvement of calcium signaling at a very early phase of parasite interaction with ECM is described. Increments in the intracellular calcium concentrations during trypomastigotes-ECM interaction depends on the Ca2+ uptake from the extracellular medium, since it is inhibited by EGTA or Nifedipine, an inhibitor of the L-type voltage gated Ca2+ channels and sphingosine-dependent plasma membrane Ca2+ channel, but not by Vanadate, an inhibitor of the plasma membrane Ca2+-ATPase. Furthermore, Nifedipine inhibits the invasion of host cells by tissue culture- derived trypomastigotes in a dose-dependent manner, reaching 95% inhibition at 100 µM Nifedipine. These data indicate the importance of both Ca2+ uptake from the medium and parasite-ECM interaction for host-cell invasion. Previous treatment of ECM with protease abolishes the Ca2+ uptake, further reinforcing the possibility that these events may be connected. The mitochondrion plays a relevant role in Ca2+ homeostasis in trypomastigotes during their interaction with ECM, as shown by the increment of the intracellular Ca2+ concentration in the presence of Antimycin A, in contrast to other calcium homeostasis disruptors, such as Cyclopiazonic acid for endoplasmic reticulum and Bafilomycin A for acidocalcisome. Total phosphatase activity in the parasite decreases in the presence of Nifedipine, EGTA, and Okadaic acid, implying a role of calcium in the phosphorylation level of proteins that are interacting with the ECM in tissue culture- derived trypomastigotes. In summary, we describe here the increment of Ca2+ at an early phase of the trypomastigotes interaction with ECM, implicating both nifedipine-sensitive Ca2+ channels in the influx of Ca2+ and the mitochondrion as the relevant organelle in Ca2+ homeostasis. The data unravel a complex sequence of events prior to host cell invasion itself.