Molecular-based detection of Leishmania tropica isolates among sensitive, resistant, and relapsed patients treated with Meglumine Antimoniate.

The appearance of resistance to pentavalent antimony, as the mainline of treatment for Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL) has been reported from Iran. According to the patients' laboratory and clinical history, 96 archived slides of patients infected with Leishmania tropica (L. tropica) treated with Meglumine Antimoniate (Glucantime®) were selected. After microscopic examination, Nested Polymerase Chain Reaction (Nested-PCR) and Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) assays were done for each sample. In Nested-PCR, all positive samples were characterized as L. tropica. Additionally, some positive products of sensitive, resistant, and recidivans cases were selected to check their differentiations by sequencing software. In RFLP, various patterns of schizodemes were detected according to the reference patterns. Most sensitive cases of L. tropica (treated with Glucantime®) were categorized as schizodeme B, and most resistant cases were identified as schizodeme B and D. In recidivans cases, 91% of specimens categorized as schizodeme A and B. However, study on the type of L. tropica isolates that are resistant or sensitive to Glucantime® could be helpful before drug therapy. © Indian Society for Parasitology 2022.