Recent advances in leishmaniasis treatment

Abstract

About 1.5 million new cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis and 500,000 new cases of visceral leishmaniasis occur each year around the world. For over half a century, the clinical forms of the disease have been treated almost exclusively with pentavalent antimonial compounds. In this review, we describe the arsenal available for treating Leishmania infections, as well as recent advances from research on plants and synthetic compounds as source drugs for treating the disease. We also review some new drug-delivery systems for the development of novel chemotherapeutics. We observe that the pharmaceutical industry should employ its modern technologies, which could lead to better use of plants and their extracts, as well as to the development of synthetic and semi-synthetic compounds. New studies have highlighted some biopharmaceutical technologies in the design of the delivery strategy, such as nanoparticles, liposomes, cochleates, and non-specific lipid transfer proteins. These observations serve as a basis to indicate novel routes for the development and design of effective anti-Leishmania drugs.

Quinazoline pharmacophore in therapeutic medicine

“…It is quite alarming to note that approximately 1.5 million of new cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis emerge every year while there is an outbreak of about 500 000 of new cases of visceral diseases in similar vein. Statistics have shown that cutaneous leishmaniasis is endemic over 70 countries of the World today (Tiumana et al, 2011). Comprehensive review of anti-leishmanial drugs discovered for the last decade projected quinazoline as highly promising in this regard (Sangshetti et al, 2015).…”

(+)-Spectaline, a Piperidine Alkaloid from <i>Senna spectabilis</i> DC. Effective in Reducing the <i>In Vitro</i> Infection of <i>Leishmania major</i>

“…Other drugs available in the market face great challenges such as acquired resistance by certain common species, depleted immune capability in HIV co-infection patients and organs toxicities [2]. The unfavorable side effects and resistance together with the increasing number of patients intensified the demand for alternative remedies to curtail this disease [8][9][10].…”

“…The promastigotes are then transformed to amastigotes and then multiply, causing host cells to be burdened with parasites and thus becoming prone to lysis. The lysis will release amastigotes which then may infect other macrophages, thus ensuring their survival in the host [8,10]. The disease is characterized by a spectrum of clinical manifestations which are visceral leishmaniasis (VL) and cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL), and also rarer ones such as mucosal leishmaniasis (MCL) [6].…”

“…The disease is characterized by a spectrum of clinical manifestations which are visceral leishmaniasis (VL) and cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL), and also rarer ones such as mucosal leishmaniasis (MCL) [6]. The varied spectrum of clinical manifestations normally range from appearance of lesions, papule or nodules, or even mucosal tissue destruction of CL [10].…”

“…These activities have been attributed to the flavonoids, phenylpropanoids, steroids, quinones, chalcones and a few more, but the most listed in reviews are alkaloids and terpenes [10,12].To date, a list of compounds from plants which have entered investigational stage had been summarized by Sundar and Chakravarty [13] which includes amarogentin from Swertia chirata, maesabalide III triterpenoide saponins from Maesa balansae, prenyloxy-naphthoquinone from Plubago zeylanica, plumbagin from Pera benensis and a list of 2-substituted quinaline alkaloids derived from Galipea longiflora.…”