The major goal of LeiSHield-MATI is to establish a novel collaborative platform across the EU and CL-endemic countries in Africa and Asia. We attained this goal through the following Specific Objectives:
- Objective 1: Standardize procedures for sampling, species determination, and HTseq analyses
The timely and efficient fulfillment of Objective 1 set the stage for the successful execution of the objectives below using standardized conditions applied across the entire consortium, including a common bio-informatics pipeline published in Nucleic Acid Research (Späth and Bussotti 2022), which allowed for cross-comparison of results between teams.
- Objective 2: Correlate CL clinical manifestations to parasite genomic diversity and Leishmania LRV infection
It allowed major discoveries across the MATI region with respect to parasite genetic heterogeneity, hybridization, and evolution in the field, why are subject of 5 manuscripts at different stages of the publication process, including one published in Microbial Genomics (Bussotti et al., 2020), 2 pre-published on bioRxiv (Talimi et al, in revision in Microbial Genomics; Bruno et al., submitted), and 2 manuscripts in preparation on direct tissue sequencing of Moroccan L. tropica isolates and the geographic adaptation of L. tropica isolates from Iran.
- Objective 3 & 4: Identify common and region-specific bio-markers associated with the different forms of CL & Assess genetic diversity, recombination, and mixed infection in Leishmania isolates from natural sand fly infections and reservoir animals
We established and successfully applied highly innovative approaches for Sand fly species determination based on DNA-barcodes and MALI-TOF analysis, which have been validated through publications in Transbound Emerg Disease (Mhaidi et al., 2022), Vet Parasitol Reg Stud Reports (Messahel et al, 2022) and PLoS Negl Trop Dis. (Benallal et al., 2022).
- Objective 5 & 6: Characterize the genetic heterogeneity of the natural sand fly population and their susceptibility to Leishmania infection using a phylogenomic approach & Identify the natural rodent reservoir for CL to understand the local transmission cycles
We allowed important new insight into the transmission cycle of various Leishmania species in Algeria as documented by publications in J Med Entomol. (El Kacem et al., 2023), Int J Parasitol Parasites Wildl. (Benallal et al., 2023), Pathogens 2023 (Sadlova et al., 2023).
- Objective 7: Define surrogate marker(s) of human protection applying a systems-immunology approach on clinical samples
We allowed unprecedented insight into the local immune response to cutaneous Leishmania infection and (i) uncovered local immune surrogate signatures of CL caused by L. tropica (Taslimi et al, Cytokine 2020; Taslimi et al., Heliyon 2023; Masoudzadeh et al, Scientific Reports 2020), (ii) identified differential immune-related transcripts in blood of CL patients with active lesions and CL healed individuals (Bahrami et al., Molecular Immunology 2022), and revealed a number of putative transcript surrogate markers (submitted to journal “Molecular Immunology" for publication).
- Objective 8 & 10: Investigate CL lesion evolution and its social and psychological impact in endemic regions & Communicate and disseminate results stemmed from the project to policy makers and industry in order to create new incentives for the development of novel diagnostic and therapeutic tools
These Objectives could not be achieved due to ‘force majeure’ which were outside the control of the consortium management.
- Objective 9: Coordinate knowledge transfer actions inside and outside of LeiSHield-MATI consortium to ensure optimal staff exchanges, build strong sustainable collaborations, promote self-sustainability and further develop the careers of participating staff
Our staff exchange program has played a crucial role in achieving the overarching goal of the LeiSHield-MATI project, as it strengthened collaborations on the long-term, fostered career development and thus allowed the emergence of future leaders in regional scientific research, and ensured the efficient transfer of knowledge in the field of leishmaniasis.
