Ibarra-Meneses, Ana VictoriaCarrillo, EugeniaSánchez, CGarcía-Martínez, JLópez Lacomba, DSan Martín, Juan VíctorAlves, FAlvar, JorgeMoreno, Javier2020-06-082020-06-082016-08Clin Microbiol Infect . 2016 Aug;22(8):739.e1-4http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12105/10287No field method exists for identifying asymptomatic individuals in areas where Leishmania infantum is endemic. This work reports that, 24 h after stimulating whole blood with soluble Leishmania antigen (SLA), plasma interferon-γ (IFN-γ) and interleukin-2 (IL-2) become significantly elevated in samples from asymptomatic individuals (n=47) compared with those from negative controls (n=50), all of them recruited from a blood bank. When compared with the reference test SLA-lymphoproliferative assay, IL-2 appears as a new, 100% sensitive and specific marker for asymptomatic individuals with a positive cellular response (compared with 100% and 84.78%, respectively, for IFN-γ). Further studies in other transmission areas and in other cohorts of exposed people need to be performed to confirm these results. Once validated, IFN-γ and IL-2 levels in SLA-stimulated whole blood could be reliably used in the field to estimate the prevalence of those asymptomatic individuals with Leishmania-specific cellular immune responses.engAMhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Asymptomatic DiseasesLeishmania infantumAdultBiomarkersCytokinesFemaleHumansInterleukin-2Leishmaniasis, VisceralMaleMiddle AgedYoung AdultAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional27265372228739.e1-410.1016/j.cmi.2016.05.0211469-0691Clinical microbiology and infection : the official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseasesopen access