Leishmaniases are neglected infectious diseases caused by parasites of the 'protozoan' genus Leishmania. Depending on the parasite species, different clinical forms are known as cutaneous, muco-cutaneous, and the visceral leishmaniasis (VL). VL is particularly fatal and the therapy presents limitations. In the search for new anti-leishmanial hit compounds, seven natural sesquiterpene lactones w...

Leishmania parasites are able to undergo apoptosis (programmed cell death), similarly to mammalian cells. Recently it was demonstrated in vitro the anti-leishmanial effect of some natural and synthetic stilbenoids including resveratrol and piceatannol. In this study we evaluated the Leishmanicidal activity of a pool of stilbene derivatives which had previously shown high apoptotic efficacy agai...

The use of toll-like receptor agonists in immunotherapy is a new approach in the prevention of immunosuppression during fatal Leishmania parasite infection. The objective of such immunotherapy is to activate specific cell-mediated immune responses, macrophage activation and antigen-responsive inflammation, to kill intracellular amastigotes. Toll-like receptor agonist-based treatment in immunoco...

OBJECTIVE The present study aimed to elucidate the cell death mechanism in Leishmania donovani upon treatment with KalsomeTM10, a new liposomal amphotericin B. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We studied morphological alterations in promastigotes through phase contrast and scanning electron microscopy. Phosphatidylserine (PS) exposure, loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and disruption of ...

A mutant (MPA100) strain of Leishmania donovania was generated from a wild type (D1700) population by virtue of its ability to survive the selective pressure of gradually increasing concentrations of mycophenolic acid (MPA), an inhibitor of IMP dehydrogenase (IMPDH) activity. Comparative growth experiments revealed that the MPA100 strain was 100-fold more resistant to MPA toxicity and cross-res...

Fractions obtained from partitioning of aerial methanolic extract of Euphorbia Aelleniiwith chloroform (E2), ethyl acetate (E3), n-butanol (E4) and water (E5) were investigated in vitro for their phytotoxicity, insecticidal, anti-leishmanial, cytotoxicity, antibacterial and antifungal activities. Sample E2 appeared to have significant phytotoxic activity. In the insecticidal screening study onl...

As part of an investigation to generate optimized drug leads from marine natural pharmacophores for the treatment of neoplastic and infectious diseases, a series of novel isoaaptamine analogs were prepared by coupling acyl halides to the C9 position of isoaaptamine (2) isolated from the Aaptos sponge. This library of new semisynthetic products was evaluated for biological activity against HIV-1...

Leishmaniasis is one of the world's most neglected diseases, largely affecting the poorest of the poor, mainly in developing countries. Over 350 million people are considered at risk of contracting leishmaniasis, and approximately 2 million new cases occur yearly(1). Leishmania donovani is the causative agent for visceral leishmaniasis (VL), the most fatal form of the disease. The choice of dru...

The anti-leishmanial activity of ivermectin, pentostam or combination of pentostam with either levamisole or thymic extract was tested against Leishmania donovani infection in hamsters and mice. In vitro peritoneal macrophage-parasite interaction, the effect of splenic cells on the interaction of macrophages and parasites, spleen weight, parasite burden in spleen tissue as well as the antibody ...

Formycin B is metabolized by cutaneous Leishmania amastigotes within cultured human macrophages to give formycin B 5'-monophosphate and formycin A 5'-mono-, di-, and triphosphates. Formycin A is also incorporated into RNA. The activity of formycin B against amastigotes was correlated with the levels of formycin A metabolites formed in the parasites. Uninfected macrophages also convert formycin ...