| Grant number: | 18/24077-6 |
| Support type: | Regular Research Grants |
| Duration: | July 01, 2020 - June 30, 2022 |
| Field of knowledge: | Health Sciences - Medicine - Pathological Anatomy and Clinical Pathology |
| Principal Investigator: | Luiz Felipe Domingues Passero |
| Grantee: | Luiz Felipe Domingues Passero |
| Home Institution: | Instituto de Biociências (IB-CLP). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus Experimental do Litoral Paulista. São Vicente , SP, Brazil |
| Assoc. researchers: | Marcia Dalastra Laurenti |
Abstract
Leishmaniasis are infectious diseases caused by protozoal belonging to the Leishmania genus. Different species are pathogenic, and cause distinct clinical forms in humans, some of them are considered severe forms, such as visceral and anergic diffuse leishmaniasis. Pentavalent antimonials and amphotericin B are the main drugs employed in the therapy, however, are outdated, the injection is painful and they induce local and systemic side effects in patients (leading to the therapy abandon), and yet resistant parasites have been found. Based on these, it is important and urgent to characterize new drugs, as well as new ways to treat patients with this important neglected tropical disease. This group has been characterizing the leishmanicidal action of different molecules (natural or synthetic), and some of them showed to be promising in vivo. Thus, aiming at improve their efficacies and following the recommendations of DNDi this project proposes to study the therapeutic action of butenafine, buparvaquone, 5-chloro-8-hydroxyquinoline, 7-Bromo-5-iodoquinolin-8-yl acetate and ursolic acid formulated to dermatological creams or nanosystems to treat topically or orally experimental animals with cutaneous or visceral leishmaniasis. To evaluate the efficacy of nanoformulations, cutaneous or visceral parasitism will be analyzed, furthermore histopathological and immunological changes will be recorded. All these modifications will be compared to those of animals treated with Glucantime. The toxicity of studied formulations will be evaluated using histopathological studies in target organs, as well as biochemical alterations. (AU)