{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,15]],"date-time":"2026-09-15T12:28:01Z","timestamp":1789475281864,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,18]],"date-time":"2025-12-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1766016000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100006162","name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o de Amparo \u00e0 Ci\u00eancia e Tecnologia do Estado de Pernambuco","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["IBPG-0245-2.02\/24"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["IBPG-0245-2.02\/24"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100006162","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003593","name":"Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient\u00edfico e Tecnol\u00f3gico","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003593","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Pathogens"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a severe zoonotic disease characterized by high mortality and a pronounced systemic inflammatory response. Although Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) has been implicated in infectious and inflammatory disorders, its role in human VL remains poorly defined, and host-derived indicators that simultaneously reflect inflammatory and parasitic activity are limited. This study investigated the association between plasma PTX3 levels, parasite load, and PTX3 gene polymorphisms (rs1840680 and rs2305619) in patients with VL. An observational study was conducted between 2017 and 2021, including 36 patients with confirmed VL and 45 healthy controls matched by age and sex. Plasma PTX3 concentrations were determined by ELISA, parasite load by quantitative PCR (qPCR), and cytokines (IL-2, IL-6, IL-10, IL-17A, IFN-\u03b3 and TNF-\u03b1) by flow cytometry. PTX3 levels were significantly higher in VL patients than in controls (23.2 ng\/mL vs. 0.80 ng\/mL; p &lt; 0.0001) and correlated positively with parasite load (r = 0.39; p = 0.02) and cytokines IL-6, IL-10 and IFN-\u03b3. No associations were observed between PTX3 polymorphisms and disease susceptibility. These findings suggest that PTX3 reflects both inflammatory responses and parasitic burden in VL and may serve as a potential indicator of disease activity.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/pathogens14121299","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,18]],"date-time":"2025-12-18T10:06:56Z","timestamp":1766052416000},"page":"1299","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Pentraxin 3 Levels Reflect Inflammatory and Parasitic Activity in Human Visceral Leishmaniasis"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7240-3851","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lucyo Fl\u00e1vio Bezerra","family":"Diniz","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Postgraduate Program in Health and Biological Sciences, Federal University of the S\u00e3o Francisco Valley (UNIVASF), Petrolina 56304-917, Pernambuco, Brazil"},{"name":"University Hospital of the Federal University of the S\u00e3o Francisco Valley (HU-UNIVASF), Petrolina 56304-917, Pernambuco, Brazil"},{"name":"Regional Hospital of Juazeiro, Juazeiro 48903-200, Bahia, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0034-9723","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Milena Xavier Silva","family":"Barbosa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Postgraduate Program in Applied Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Pernambuco (UPE), Recife 50100-130, Pernambuco, Brazil"},{"name":"Advanced Laboratory for Diagnosis and Studies in Health and Environment (LADESA), College of Medicine, Federal University of the S\u00e3o Francisco Valley (UNIVASF), Petrolina, 56304-917, Pernambuco, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6057-0414","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Samuel Ricarte","family":"de Aquino","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University Hospital of the Federal University of the S\u00e3o Francisco Valley (HU-UNIVASF), Petrolina 56304-917, Pernambuco, Brazil"},{"name":"Petrolina Municipal Health Secretariat, Petrolina 56304-020, Pernambuco, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3161-8922","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anderson","family":"da Costa Armstrong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University Hospital of the Federal University of the S\u00e3o Francisco Valley (HU-UNIVASF), Petrolina 56304-917, Pernambuco, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7995-1893","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Carlos Dornels","family":"Freire de Souza","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Postgraduate Program in Health and Biological Sciences, Federal University of the S\u00e3o Francisco Valley (UNIVASF), Petrolina 56304-917, Pernambuco, Brazil"},{"name":"Advanced Laboratory for Diagnosis and Studies in Health and Environment (LADESA), College of Medicine, Federal University of the S\u00e3o Francisco Valley (UNIVASF), Petrolina, 56304-917, Pernambuco, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9601-6995","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rodrigo Feliciano","family":"Carmo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Postgraduate Program in Health and Biological Sciences, Federal University of the S\u00e3o Francisco Valley (UNIVASF), Petrolina 56304-917, Pernambuco, Brazil"},{"name":"Postgraduate Program in Applied Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Pernambuco (UPE), Recife 50100-130, Pernambuco, Brazil"},{"name":"Advanced Laboratory for Diagnosis and Studies in Health and Environment (LADESA), College of Medicine, Federal University of the S\u00e3o Francisco Valley (UNIVASF), Petrolina, 56304-917, Pernambuco, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"World Health Organization (2023). 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