Leishmania promastigotes are recognized by the macrophage receptor for advanced glycosylation endproducts.

In this paper we demonstrate the involvement of the macrophage receptor for advanced glycosylation endproducts (AGE) in the phagocytosis of Leishmania major promastigotes. Blocking of this receptor with the ligand, AGE-BSA, leads to a 50% decrease in phagocytosis relative to controls, and a comparable decrease in the respiratory burst. The inhibition of phagocytosis by AGE-BSA was specific to leishmania. The binding of zymosan or C3bi-RBC and the phagocytosis of IgG-RBC or latex beads was not affected by the presence of AGE-BSA. Blocking of both the AGE receptor and CR3 decreases leishmania binding by nearly 90%, and reduces the respiratory burst by 80%, indicating that the two receptors account for the bulk of L. tropica promastigote recognition and uptake by the macrophage.