High Resolution Melting Analysis in Leishmania Resistance: The Role of Multi Drug Resistance 1 Gene

Abstract

Objective Pentavalent antimonial compounds are currently used to treat Leishmaniasis. Resistance to these drugs is a serious problem. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the mutations in the multi-drug resistance 1 (MDR1) gene in biopsy specimens of Leishmania Tropica with high resolution melting (HRM) method.Results In this experimental study, genomic DNA was extracted from 130 patients with skin Leishmaniasis. Then, nucleotide changes were investigated throughout the gene length using HRM and sequencing methods. The results of the nucleotide changes showed that 61% of the samples that were unresponsive to drug had mutations in the MDR1 gene in different groups, which were confirmed by the sequencing method. These mutations can be one of the factors responsible for non-response to the treatment of the disease. HRM method can be used to diagnose drug resistance in Leishmaniasis. It is also recommended that further studies be done regarding the importance of drug resistance in the affected patients.