Immunomodulator mediated changes in plasma membrane calcium ATPase in controlling visceral leishmaniasis

Immunomodulation is an emerging concept to combat infection in recent years. Immunomodulators like arabinosylated-lipoarabinomannan (Ara-LAM) and glycyrrhizic-acid (GA) possess anti-leishmanial property, whereas sodium-antimony-gluconate (SAG) is still considered as the first choice for chemotherapy against leishmaniasis. During infection, invasion of Leishmania donovani needs the potential requirement of Ca²⁺, which is further responsible for apoptosis in intracellular amastigotes. However, suppression of elevated intracellular calcium by the activation of plasma-membrane-calcium-ATPase (PMCA4) facilitates survival of L. donovani in the host. In the present study, SAG, Ara-LAM, and GA were found to evoke significant increase in intracellular Ca²⁺ in L. donovani infected macrophages by inhibiting PMCA4. Moreover, PMCA4 inhibition by TFP or PMCA4 siRNA elevated the level of PKCβ, whereas calcium-independent upregulation of PKCζ remained unchanged in infected macrophages. Furthermore, application of immunomodulators in infected macrophages resulted in down-regulation of PKCζ, conversion of anti-inflammatory to pro-inflammatory cytokines and inhibition of PMCA4. Plasma membrane-associated ceramide which is known to be elevated during leishmaniasis, triggered upregulation of PMCA4 via PKCζ activation. Interestingly, immunomodulators attenuated ceramide generation, which resulted into reduced PKCζ activation leading to the decreased PMCA expression in infected macrophages. Therefore, our study elucidated the efficacy of SAG, Ara-LAM, and GA in the reduction of parasite burden in macrophages by suppressing PMCA activation through inhibition of ceramide mediated upregulation of PKCζ.