The emergence of drug-resistant Leishmania species is a significant problem in several countries. A comparative proteomic analysis of antimony-susceptible and antimony-resistant Leishmania braziliensis (LbSbR) and Leishmania infantum chagasi (LcSbR) lines was carried out using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) followed by mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) for protein identification. Out of 132 protein spots exclusive or up-regulated submitted to MS, we identified 80 proteins that corresponded to 57 distinct proteins. Comparative analysis of data showed that most of the protein spots with differential abundance in both species are involved in antioxidant defense, general stress response, glucose and amino acid metabolism, and cytoskeleton organization. Five proteins were commonly more abundant in both SbIII-resistant Leishmania lines: tryparedoxin peroxidase, alpha-tubulin, HSP70, HSP83, and HSP60. Analysis of the protein abundance by Western blotting assays confirmed our proteomic data. These assays revealed that cyclophilin-A is less expressed in both LbSbR and LcSbR lines. On the other hand, the expression of pteridine reductase is higher in the LbSbR line, whereas tryparedoxin peroxidase is overexpressed in both LbSbR and LcSbR lines. Together, these results show that the mechanism of antimony-resistance in Leishmania spp. is complex and multifactorial.

In the present study, we selected in vitro populations of Leishmania Viannia guyanensis, L.V. braziliensis, L. Leishmania amazonensis and L.L. infantum chagasi that were resistant to potassium antimony tartrate (SbIII). The resistance index of these populations varied from 4- to 20-fold higher than that of their wild-type counterparts. To evaluate the stability of the resistance phenotype, these four resistant populations were passaged 37 to 47 times in a culture medium without SbIII. No change was observed in the resistance indexes of L.V. guyanensis (19-fold) and L.L. infantum chagasi (4-fold). In contrast, a decrease in the resistance index was observed for L.V. braziliensis (from 20- to 10-fold) and L.L. amazonensis (from 6- to 3-fold). None of the antimony-resistant populations exhibited cross-resistance to amphotericin B and miltefosine. However, the resistant populations of L.V. braziliensis, L.L. amazonensis and L.L. infantum chagasi were also resistant to paromomycin. A drastic reduction was observed in the infectivity in mice for the resistant L.V. guyanensis, L.L. amazonensis and L.V. braziliensis populations. The SbIII-resistant phenotype of L.V. braziliensis was stable after one passage in mice. Although the protocol of induction was the same, the SbIII-resistant populations showed different degrees of tolerance, stability, infectivity in mice and cross-resistance to antileishmanial drugs, depending on the Leishmania species.

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The natural lignans veraguensin and grandisin have been reported to be active against Trypanosoma cruzi bloodstream forms. Aiming at the total synthesis of these and related compounds, we prepared three 2-arylfurans and eight 2,5-diarylfurans. They were evaluated for their potential as T. cruzi trypanothione reductase (TR) 60% at 20 µg/ml (59 and 90 µM, respectively). On the other hand, none of the compounds was significantly active against the parasite bloodstream forms even at 250 µg/ml (0.6-1.5 mM).Key words: tropical diseases -Chagas disease -arylfurans -trypanothione reductase Chagas disease, caused by the flagellate protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, affects 18 million people in Latin America and is responsible for 13,000 deaths every year (WHO 2002). The treatment relies on only two available drugs, nifurtimox and benznidazole, which are relatively efficient in the acute phase of the disease, but almost ineffective in the chronic phase. Nowadays, one of the most important mechanisms of Chagas disease transmission in many countries is by blood transfusion (Schmuñis 1991). In highly endemic areas it is strongly recommended the use of chemoprophylatic measures such as the addition of gentian violet to clear trypomastigotes from blood banked for transfusion (Moraes-Souza et al. 1995). Although effective, this triphenylmethane dye is not well accepted because of undesirable effects such as coloring the skin and possible mutagenicity (Wendel 1993). Thus, new drugs to treat or prevent Chagas disease are still needed.Trypanosoma cruzi enzymes such as the trypanothione reductase (TR) represent a potential drug targets because they play an essential role in the life of this parasite. TR and its substrate trypanothione, the disulfide of a glutathione-spermidine conjugate [N 1 , N 8 -bis(glutathionyl)spermidine, T(SH) 2 ] 1, help to protect the parasite from oxidative stress by maintaining an intracellular reducing environment in a manner analogous to glutathione reductase (GR) and glutathione [L-γ-glutamyl-Lcysteiylglycine, GSH] 2 (Fig. 1a) in mammalian cells (Schmidt & Krauth-Siegel 2002). TR catalyses the NADPHdependent reduction of trypanothione disulfide TS 2 to its dithiol form, T(SH) 2 . Trypanothione may be oxidized back to TS 2 (Fig. 1b) following reaction with potentially damaging radicals and oxidants generated by aerobic metabolism. Another aspect that makes TR an even more attractive target is its structural differences from the human counterpart GR. GR has a narrow positively charged active site, to accommodate the glycine carboxylates of its substrate glutathione, whereas TR has a wider, noncharged, and more hydrophobic active site (Bond et al. 1999). These differences allowed the discovery of several promising selective inhibitors of TR (Schmidt & KrauthSiegel 2002).Lignans is a class of natural products that possess important biological properties (Jensen et al. 1993). Lopes et al. (1998) showed that the tetrahydrofuran lignans veraguensin 3 and grandisin 4 (Fig. 2) were active in vitro at 5 µg/ml aga...