TY - JOUR A1 - Akhoundi, Mohammad A1 - Downing, Tim A1 - Votýpka, Jan A1 - Kuhls, Katrin A1 - Lukeš, Julius A1 - Cannet, Arnaud A1 - Ravel, Christophe A1 - Marty, Pierre A1 - Delaunay, Pascal A1 - Kasbari, Mohamed A1 - Granouillac, Bruno A1 - Gradoni, Luigi A1 - Sereno, Denis T1 - Leishmania infections: Molecular targets and diagnosis TI - Molecular Aspects of Medicine N2 - Progress in the diagnosis of leishmaniases depends on the development of effective methods and the discovery of suitable biomarkers. We propose firstly an update classification of Leishmania species and their synonymies. We demonstrate a global map highlighting the geography of known endemic Leishmania species pathogenic to humans. We summarize a complete list of techniques currently in use and discuss their advantages and limitations. The available data highlights the benefits of molecular markers in terms of their sensitivity and specificity to quantify variation from the subgeneric level to species complexes, (sub) species within complexes, and individual populations and infection foci. Each DNA-based detection method is supplied with a comprehensive description of markers and primers and proposal for a classification based on the role of each target and primer in the detection, identification and quantification of leishmaniasis infection. We outline a genome-wide map of genes informative for diagnosis that have been used for Leishmania genotyping. Furthermore, we propose a classification method based on the suitability of well-studied molecular markers for typing the 21 known Leishmania species pathogenic to humans. This can be applied to newly discovered species and to hybrid strains originating from inter-species crosses. Developing more effective and sensitive diagnostic methods and biomarkers is vital for enhancing Leishmania infection control programs. KW - molecular marker KW - diagnostic method KW - hybrid strain KW - sympatric species KW - genome-wide map Y1 - 2017 UR - https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-th-wildau/frontdoor/index/index/docId/990 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:526-opus4-9908 SN - 0098-2997 VL - 57 SP - 1 EP - 29 ER -