Development of Antiprotozoal Drugs

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Parasitology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 March 2024) | Viewed by 1491

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Departamento de Obstetricia y Ginecología, Pediatría, Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública, Toxicología, Medicina Legal y Forense y Parasitología, Instituto Universitario de Enfermedades Tropicales y Salud Pública de Canarias, Universidad de La Laguna, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain
Interests: Leishmania; Trypanosoma; Acanthamoeba; chemotherapy; treatment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail
Guest Editor
Instituto Universitario de Enfermedades Tropicales y Salud Pública de Canarias, Universidad de La Laguna, Avda. Francisco Sánchez s/n, Campus de Anchieta, 38203 La Laguna Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
Interests: free-living amoebae; chemotherapy, natural origin products; kinetoplastids
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Protozoan parasites that are infectious to humans represent a significant threat to health and cause more than one million deaths annually. They also threaten the lives of billions of individuals worldwide and are associated with significant morbidity and large economic impacts. The significant burden of human protozoan infections has been exacerbated by the lack of effective vaccines for any of the diseases caused by these parasites. Treatment and prophylaxis have, therefore, been dependent on drugs, many of which have become less effective, necessitating the search for replacements.

The limited existing therapeutic options to control protozoan infections in humans call for greater commitment from the scientific community to research how to improve the prognosis of diseases such as malaria, leishmaniasis, trypanosomiasis, giardiasis, etc., as well as the development of innovative approaches for disease control.

This Special Issue of Microorganisms will collect relevant articles that report on recent advances in antiparasitic research, from basic to translational studies. We invite your contributions, either in the form of original research or review articles, covering various aspects of research into new therapies, including molecular and cell biology, physiology and the development of new drug combinations or formulations.

Dr. Atteneri López Arencibia
Dr. Ines Sifaoui
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • drug discovery
  • chemotherapy
  • parasite
  • protozoa
  • formulations
  • combined therapy

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

19 pages, 3578 KiB  
Article
In Vitro Leishmanicidal Activity of Copaiba Oil and Kojic Acid Combination on the Protozoan Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis and Host Cell
by Lienne Silveira de Moraes, Adan Jesús Galué-Parra, Amanda Anastácia Pinto Hage, Hévila Aragão Moura, Marcus Savio Araujo Garcia, Caroline Gomes Macêdo, Ana Paula Drummond Rodrigues, Giselle Maria Skelding Pinheiro Guilhon and Edilene Oliveira da Silva
Microorganisms 2023, 11(12), 2925; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11122925 - 5 Dec 2023
Viewed by 1031
Abstract
(1) Background: Leishmaniasis refers to a group of anthropozoonotic diseases caused by Leishmania. The major chemotherapeutic agent used for its treatment is Glucantime®®, but the search continues for new compounds that are economically viable and act on the protozoan without causing [...] Read more.
(1) Background: Leishmaniasis refers to a group of anthropozoonotic diseases caused by Leishmania. The major chemotherapeutic agent used for its treatment is Glucantime®®, but the search continues for new compounds that are economically viable and act on the protozoan without causing damage to the host cell. As an alternative approach, this study used a combination of copaiba oil (CO) and kojic acid (KA) to determine their in vitro action on host cells, on the Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis protozoan and its interaction with macrophages. (2) Methods: In vitro culture, analysis of cytokine release and microscopy assays were performed. Statistical analysis was performed with ANOVA (GraphPad Prism). (3) Results: The combination did not induce cytotoxic effects on macrophages after treatment but promoted morphological changes in the protozoan, such as nuclear alterations (apoptotic characteristics), alterations in the cellular body and an increase in the number of electrodense structures and acidocalcisomes, observed mainly at the concentrations of CO20KA50 and CO30KA50 μg/mL. We observed reductions in the intracellular amastigote number and in the production of proinflammatory cytokines, such as IL-6 and TNF-α, after treatment with CO30KA at 50 µg/mL. (4) Conclusions: We report here, for the first time, that the combination of CO and KA may be a promising approach against Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development of Antiprotozoal Drugs)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop