Metallodrugs for the Treatment of Trypanosomatid Diseases: Recent Advances and New Insights

Abstract

: Trypanosomatid parasites are responsible for many Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). NTDs are a group of illnesses that prevail in low-income populations, such as in tropical and subtropical areas of Africa, Asia and the Americas. The three major human diseases caused by trypanosomatids are African trypanosomiasis, Chagas disease, and leishmaniasis. There are known drugs for the treatment of these diseases that are used extensively and are affordable, however, the use of these medicines is limited by several drawbacks: development of chemo-resistance, side effects such as cardiotoxicity, low selectivity and others. Therefore, there is a need to develop new chemotherapeutics against these tropical parasitic diseases. Metal-based drugs against NTDs have been discussed over the years as alternative ways to overcome the difficulties presented by approved antiparasitic agents. The study of late transition metal-based drugs as chemotherapeutics is an exciting research field in chemistry, biology and medicine due to the ability of developing multitarget antiparasitic agents. The evaluation of the late transition metal complexes for the treatment of Trypanosomatid diseases is provided here, as well as some insights about their mechanism of actions.

Multifunctional organometallic compounds for the treatment of Chagas disease: Re(i) tricarbonyl compounds with two different bioactive ligands

“…In this context, the rational design of metal-based drugs including different metal ions or organometallic centers has shown to be a successful strategy for the development of new prospective agents against T. cruzi . 11–22…”

New Nucleic Base-Tethered Trithiolato-Bridged Dinuclear Ruthenium(II)-Arene Compounds: Synthesis and Antiparasitic Activity

“…The research of metal-based compounds for biological applications has received a lot of attention [ 46 , 47 , 48 ], and if initially most of the bioactive metalorganic compounds were conceived as alternatives to anticancer platinum-based drugs [ 49 , 50 , 51 ], other pharmacological properties, among which, antiparasitic activity [ 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 ], further encouraged studies in this area. If ruthenium complexes emerged as one of the most promising classes of metal-based anticancer compounds [ 58 , 59 ], they have also shown particularly interesting efficacy against various parasites [ 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 ].…”

New Nucleic Base-tethered Trithiolato-bridged Dinuclear Ruthenium(II)-Arene Compounds: Synthesis and Antiparasitic Activity

“…The research of metal-based compounds for biological applications has received a lot of attention in the past decades [45][46][47] . If initially most of the bioactive metalorganic compounds were conceived as alternatives to anticancer platinum-based drugs [48][49][50] , other pharmacological properties, especially antimicrobial [51][52][53][54][55][56] , and antiparasitic 11,[57][58][59][60][61] activities, further encouraged studies in this area. Ruthenium(II) complexes have shown particularly interesting efficacy against various parasites [62][63][64][65] .…”