Abstract
Leishmania major (L. major) causes cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Old World. The infection mostly induces a localized lesion restricted to the sand fly bite. The costs and the side effects of current treatments render imperative the development of new therapies that are affordable and easy to administrate. Topical treatment would be the ideal option for the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis. MF29 is a 3-haloacetamidobenzoate that was shown in vitro to inhibit tubulin assembly in Leishmania. Here, we tested a topical cream formulated with MF29. BALB/c mice were infected in the ear dermis with L. major metacyclic promastigotes and once the lesion appeared, mice were treated with different concentrations of MF29 and compared to the control group treated with the cream used as the vehicle. We observed that topical application of MF29 reduced the progression of the infection while control groups developed an unhealing lesion that became necrotic. The treatment decreased the type 2 immune response. Comparison with SinaAmphoLeish, another topical treatment, revealed that MF29 treatment once a day was sufficient to control lesion development, while application SinaAmphoLeish needed applications twice daily. Collectively, our data suggest that MF-29 topical application could be a promising topical treatment for cutaneous leishmaniasis.
Highlights
Leishmaniasis is a neglected tropical disease that is a major public health issue
L. major Sd that was isolated from the non-healing lesion of a patient resistant to drugs [10] leads to thMeicdroeorvgeanloispmms 2e02n0t, 8o,fx aFOpRroPEgErResRsEivVeIEWnon-healing lesion upon infection in C57BL/6 mice
Treatments against cutaneous leishmaniasis have been neglected, as most efforts have focused on visceral leishmaniasis, the deadly form of the disease
Summary
Leishmaniasis is a neglected tropical disease that is a major public health issue. It predominantly affects people of low socioeconomic status. It is the second most deadly vector transmitted disease with over 1 billion people living in endemic areas and at risk of infection according to the World Health Organization. More than 20 Leishmania species infect humans, they are transmitted during the blood meal of female phlebotomine sandflies. Healing may be long (3–18 months) depending mostly on the infecting Leishmania species and the host immune status. Current WHO recommendations for CL treatment depend on the country where the patient is infected, the clinical form of the disease, and the infecting Leishmania spp., current treatments show various degrees of efficacy (reviewed in [5])
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