Tropical Protozoan Disease Treatment Drugs

A special issue of Pharmaceutics (ISSN 1999-4923). This special issue belongs to the section "Drug Targeting and Design".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2024 | Viewed by 3024

Special Issue Editors

Centro Nacional de Microbiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain
Interests: antiprotozoal activity; chemotherapy; drug discovery; treatment schedule; tropical infectious diseases
Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
Interests: drug discovery; drug design; chemotherapy; pharmacokinetics; treatment schedule
Department of Parasitology, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
Interests: antiprotozoal activity; chemotherapy; drug discovery; protozoan parasites; tropical infectious diseases

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Tropical diseases caused by protozoan parasites – such as Trypanosoma cruzi, Trypanosoma brucei, Leishmania spp. or Plasmodium spp., among others – affect million of people worldwide, causing more than a million human deaths and disabilities annually and high economic and social burden.

These pathogens have complex life cyles involving different morphological stages, sometimes within different vertebrate and invertebrate hosts. In addition, the diseases caused by these pathogens leads to complex pathology and long-term nature.

Many current drugs to combat these diseases have several disadvantages such as limited efficacy, severe side effects, requirement for long treatment periods, development of resistance, and high cost. Therefore, the search for new drugs and therapeutic strategies to combat these pathogens are urgently required.

Authors are kindly invite to submit original papers, communications and reviews regarding drug design, drug discovery, drug delivery, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodinamics and related topics, to be published in this Special Issue of Pharmaceutics.

Dr. Rubén Martín-Escolano
Dr. Encarnación Medina Carmona
Prof. Dr. Clotilde Marín Sánchez
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • antiprotozoal activity
  • chemotherapy
  • drug delivery
  • drug design
  • drug discovery
  • pharmacodinamics
  • pharmacokinetics
  • protozoan parasites
  • treatment schedule
  • tropical infectious diseases

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 4941 KiB  
Article
The Bioactivity of Xylene, Pyridine, and Pyrazole Aza Macrocycles against Three Representative Leishmania Species
by Álvaro Martín-Montes, Álvaro Martínez-Camarena, Alberto Lopera, Irene Bonastre-Sabater, M. Paz Clares, Begoña Verdejo, Enrique García-España and Clotilde Marín
Pharmaceutics 2023, 15(3), 992; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics15030992 - 20 Mar 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1088
Abstract
Due to the urgent need for finding effective and free of secondary effect treatments for every clinical form of Leishmaniasis, a series of synthetic xylene, pyridine and, pyrazole azamacrocycles were tested against three Leishmania species. A total of 14 compounds were tested against [...] Read more.
Due to the urgent need for finding effective and free of secondary effect treatments for every clinical form of Leishmaniasis, a series of synthetic xylene, pyridine and, pyrazole azamacrocycles were tested against three Leishmania species. A total of 14 compounds were tested against J774.2 macrophage cells which were models for host cells, and against promastigote and amastigote forms of each studied Leishmania parasite. Amongst these polyamines, one proved effective against L. donovani, another one for L. braziliensis and L. infantum, and another one was selective solely for L. infantum. These compounds showed leishmanicidal activity and reduced parasite infectivity and dividing ability. Action mechanism studies gave a hint that compounds were active against Leishmania due to their ability to alter parasite metabolic pathways and reduce (except Py33333) parasitic Fe-SOD activity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tropical Protozoan Disease Treatment Drugs)
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19 pages, 3091 KiB  
Article
Identification of Aryl Polyamines Derivatives as Anti-Trypanosoma cruzi Agents Targeting Iron Superoxide Dismutase
by Rubén Martín-Escolano, Daniel Molina-Carreño, Javier Martín-Escolano, Mª Paz Clares, Cristina Galiana-Roselló, Jorge González-García, Nuria Cirauqui, José M. Llinares, María José Rosales, Enrique García-España and Clotilde Marín
Pharmaceutics 2023, 15(1), 140; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics15010140 - 31 Dec 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1485
Abstract
Chagas disease (CD) is a tropical and potentially fatal infection caused by Trypanosoma cruzi. Although CD was limited to Latin America as a silent disease, CD has become widespread as a result of globalization. Currently, 6–8 million people are infected worldwide, and [...] Read more.
Chagas disease (CD) is a tropical and potentially fatal infection caused by Trypanosoma cruzi. Although CD was limited to Latin America as a silent disease, CD has become widespread as a result of globalization. Currently, 6–8 million people are infected worldwide, and no effective treatment is available. Here, we identify new effective agents against T. cruzi. In short, 16 aryl polyamines were screened in vitro against different T. cruzi strains, and lead compounds were evaluated in vivo after oral administration in both the acute and chronic infections. The mode of action was also evaluated at the energetic level, and its high activity profile could be ascribed to a mitochondria-dependent bioenergetic collapse and redox stress by inhibition of the Fe-SOD enzyme. We present compound 15 as a potential compound that provides a step forward for the development of new agents to combat CD. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tropical Protozoan Disease Treatment Drugs)
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