Resistance of Leishmania parasites to miltefosine, which is only available oral drug, is a great concern. We have analyzed global gene expression profiles of miltefosine-unresponsive and miltefosine-responsive Leishmania donovani in order to understand the various metabolic processes involved in miltefosine drug resistance. The microarray data clearly indicated a role of oxidative metabolism in miltefosine resistance. Furthermore, fluorescence microscopy experiments suggested that miltefosine-unresponsive L. donovani resists the accumulation of reactive oxygen species and subsequent mitochondrial membrane damage leading to apoptotic death. In contrast, in miltefosine-responsive L. donovani, the accumulation of reactive oxygen species causes apoptotic death. Overall, this study provides fundamental insights into miltefosine resistance in L. donovani.
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Das et al. (2013) studied this question.
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