Work

Gut bacterium of Leishmania donovani -non-transmitting sand fly induces IL-23∼Th17 axis to protect hosts from drug-resistant visceral leishmaniasis

Year: 2026

Type: preprint

Abstract: Background Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is caused by Leishmania donovani and differentiates under the influence of biotope-specific gut bacteria in the Leishmania donovani -transmitting sand fly vector, Phlebotomus argentipes, which coexists with the Leishmania donovani -non-transmitting Sergentomyia species in the Indian subcontinent. Hypothesis Sergentomyia are primarily herpetophilic. Interestingly, we identified a specific population of anthropophilic Sergentomyia babu babu , a proven naturally non-competent vector for transmitting Leishmania donovani , with high abundance and human-bite incidences in VL-non-endemic regions, compared with VL-endemic regions of India. Thus, the possibility of egesting gut bacteria to humans from VL-non-transmitting Sergentomyia and inducing downstream immune cascades remains undeniable. Innovation We characterized gut bacteria from anthropophilic Sergentomyia babu babu in both VL-endemic and VL-non-endemic regions of India and found that a heat-inactivated formulation of Heyndrickxia sporothermodurans [NCBI Sequence Read Archive (SRA): PRJNA1403236], isolated from anthropophilic Sergentomyia babu babu from a VL-non-endemic region, prevented and cured L. donovani infection by inducing IL-23∼Th17. More importantly, it also prevented the initial parasite establishment by inducing phagocytosis, ROS, and TNF-α in circulatory Ly6G − CD11b + Ly6C hi monocytes. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report confirming that the gut bacteria of VL-non-transmitting sand flies are critical and need to be investigated in depth for developing therapeutics and/or prophylactics against visceral leishmaniasis (VL), and suggests that possible bite-transfer of gut bacteria from disease-non-transmitting vectors to hosts may restrict disease pathogenicity. Further clinical trials are needed to warrant (Indian patent: 202511041013, April 28, 2025).

Source: bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

DOI: 10.64898/2026.10.04.756455