by Adriaensen W, Cuypers B, Cordero CF, Mengasha B, Blesson S, Cnops L, Kaye PM, Alves F, Diro E, van Griensven J. EBioMedicine 2020, 55: 102748. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2020.102748
Summary: Visceral leishmaniasis treatment in HIV patients often fails, resulting in extended treatment time followed by high relapse and case-fatality rates. It is essential to assess treatment efficacy, but this currently involves repeated invasive and painful aspiration from infected organs. In order to develop a less invasive alternative, the authors studied changes in the whole blood transcriptional profile of VL-HIV patients during treatment. They identified a simple blood-based signature that could accurately discriminate treatment outcome. This signature holds significant promise for the facilitation of treatment efficacy monitoring in R&D and could provide an alternative test-of-cure to guide patient management in VL-HIV patients.
