Nearly one million people around the world suffer from skin Lejimaniasis every year, a devastating skin infection caused by the Lejiman parasite. The disease mainly affects vulnerable populations in tropical and subtropical areas, such as tropical and subtropical regions, which thrive in areas with malnutrition, poor housing and displaced populations. The remaining untreated can lead to lifelong scars, causing disability and deep social stigma. Despite its global impact, there is no vaccine, existing treatments are ineffective, toxic and difficult to administer.
A new study published in the Journal Natural Communications April 4, 2025, it can change how healthcare providers deal with this disfigurement disease. A team of researchers at the University of Maryland and Centro Interricional de Intrenamiento e Respacity Eses Médicas (Cideim) in Colombia have found a prediction of whether patients with dermatological lejima will respond to the most common treatments, potentially saving patients from months of expensive, ineffective and toxic drugs.
“It is often said that treatment may be worse than this disease. We currently have a very good treatment for skin lejimaniasis,” said Maria Adelaida Gomez, a microbiologist and study author at Cideim. “These drugs have high toxic characteristics, so patients may feel sick while they are receiving treatment. There is no guarantee that treatment will work, so patients may stop treatment or visit other doctors to repeat the process. Even if they have been cured, they may suffer from scars forever. This is also the reality of Leishmaniasis in Colombia and many other countries around the world.”
Najib El-Sayed, a UMD professor of cell biology and molecular genetics who co-lead the study, noted that the standard drug used to treat the disease (Flum protein anti-symptoms) has failed in about 40-70% of patients.
“Even if the patient completes a treatment that takes up to 14 weeks, this failure rate holds true,” El-Sayed said. “It is important to find out how effective a drug is for a patient, because it prevents weeks or months of ineffective treatment and helps patients get more suitable alternatives sooner.”
The team found that patients who failed to respond to merotin antidentistry showed a unique pattern in the immune system, a persistent inflammatory state called the Type I Interferon response. This reaction is often a key part of the body’s early response system against the virus, helping cells detect pathogens and recruit resources to combat the virus.
“While this reaction is critical to combating certain infections, we found that when it rises too long, it may interfere with the treatment and healing process in patients with skin Lejimaniasis,” El-Sayed explained. “This elevated type I interferon response was observed in several innate immune cell types that we analyzed in patient blood samples. By tracking these changes throughout the treatment process, we identified a clear pattern that distinguished patients who recovered successfully from those who did not respond to standard medications.”
The researchers have also developed a complex scoring system that can accurately predict treatment outcomes in newly diagnosed patients using advanced machine learning techniques. By analyzing the activity of only nine genes, they could predict whether the treatment was suitable for patients with 90% accuracy of dermatological Levitra.
“This is a significant advance for healthcare providers and scientists working to improve outcomes for patients with dermatological lejima,” Gomez said. “The disease is starting to move to new places like the United States, which means we need these resources more than ever.”
While current testing requires sophisticated laboratory equipment, the team is already working to produce more portable and user-friendly technologies for doctors to use in the field. The researchers hope their new discoveries, especially about the type I interferon pathway, may be a promising pathway to develop new therapeutic therapies for dermatological lejima disease. Their conclusion is a shift from a more traditional approach (usually focusing only on eliminating parasites) to a treatment that considers the patient’s natural immune response.
“This is actually one of the attempts to translate laboratory discoveries of the disease into practical applications,” El-Sayed said. “Understanding why some patients are a major challenge in treating the disease. This work opens the door to precision medicine and develops better strategies that can provide personalized treatments to a wide range of patients.”
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The paper “The innate biosignature of failure in the treatment of human skin Lejima disease” was published in Natural Communications April 4, 2025.
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