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O-Glycosylated Oncofetal Fibronectin Expression in Lesions of Human Cutaneous Leishmaniasis: A Novel Finding in Infectious Diseases
by
, , , , , , , ,
Marcos André Rodrigues da Costa Santos
1,2, 
Diego Folena Custodio
1,
Carolina Bruno Rufino
1,
Jhenifer Santos dos Reis
1,
Elias Barbosa da Silva-Junior
1,2,
Gabrielly Silva Santos
1,2,
Elias Barbosa da Silva-, Junior
1,
Joana D’Arc da Silva Trindade
1,
José Osvaldo Previato
1,
Lucia Mendonça-Previato
1,
Alexandre Morrot
3,4, 
Leonardo Marques da Fonseca
1,5
,
Debora Decote-Ricardo
6,
Celio Geraldo Freire-de-Lima
1
,
Raphael do Carmo Valente
1,7,
Cintia Xavier Mello
8,
Claude Pirmez
8,
Marcia Pereira de Oliveira Duarte
8,* and
Leonardo Freire-de-Lima
1,2,*
1
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Biológicas (Biofísica), Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-902, RJ, Brazil
2
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Morfológicas, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-902, RJ, Brazil
3
Laboratório de Imunoparasitologia, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro 21040-361, RJ, Brazil
4
Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-902, RJ, Brazil
5
Curso de Medicina, Universidade Castelo Branco, Rio de Janeiro 21710-255, RJ, Brazil
6
Departamento de Microbiologia e Imunologia Veterinária, Instituto de Veterinária, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Seropédica 23897-000, RJ, Brazil
7
Campus Duque de Caxias Professor Geraldo Cidade, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Duque de Caxias 25240-005, RJ, Brazil
8
Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Pesquisas Médicas, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro 21040-361, RJ, Brazil
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Biology 2026, 15(17), 1532; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology15171532
Submission received: 7 August 2026
/
Revised: 28 August 2026
/
Accepted: 30 August 2026
/
Published: 3 September 2026
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Decoding the Sugar Code: Understanding the Function of Glycans in Health and Disease)
Simple Summary
Cutaneous leishmaniasis is a disease caused by parasites that infect the skin. It can produce long-lasting wounds and cause considerable damage to the affected tissue. In this study, we found a particular form of a protein called fibronectin in skin lesions from people with cutaneous leishmaniasis. Fibronectin helps organize and support tissues and can also influence how cells behave during tissue damage and repair. The form identified in our study, known as oncofetal fibronectin, has previously been mainly associated with cancer and developing tissues. We found that it was widely present in areas of inflammation in leishmaniasis lesions, with a pattern similar to that seen in tumors. This is the first report of this form of fibronectin in human cutaneous leishmaniasis. Our findings suggest that some of the tissue changes occurring during this long-lasting infection may resemble those found in tumors and open new possibilities for studying how fibronectin may contribute to tissue damage, repair, and the persistence of the disease.
Abstract
Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a chronic infectious disease characterized by extensive tissue destruction and profound extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling. This study provides the first evidence of O-glycosylated oncofetal fibronectin (onf-FN) expression in human CL lesions. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed increased onf-FN expression throughout the inflammatory lesions, displaying a distribution pattern closely resembling that observed in human tumors and overlapping with total fibronectin expression. The detection of onf-FN in an infectious disease caused by protozoan parasites broadens the current understanding of ECM remodeling beyond cancer and developmental processes, suggesting that onf-FN may also participate in the host tissue response to chronic infection. Given the well-established biological functions of onf-FN in regulating cell adhesion, tissue remodeling, and repair, its expression in CL lesions raises important questions regarding its potential role in disease pathogenesis and parasite persistence. These findings identify onf-FN as a previously unrecognized component of the CL microenvironment, providing a foundation for future studies investigating its biological and clinical significance in parasitic diseases.
