curcumin and Leishmaniasis

The control of leishmaniases, a complex parasitic disease caused by the protozoan parasite

Topics: Amphotericin B; Animals; Antimony; Antiprotozoal Agents; Betulinic Acid; Biocompatible Materials; Chitosan; Curcumin; Drug Carriers; Drug Compounding; Humans; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Leishmaniasis; Leishmaniasis Vaccines; Macrophages; Nanoparticles; Paromomycin; Pentacyclic Triterpenes; Polymers; Rifampin; Selenium; Thiomalates; Titanium; Triterpenes; Ursolic Acid

Members of the Curcuma plant species (Zingiberaceae) have been used for centuries in cooking, cosmetics, staining and in traditional medicine as "omnipotent" remedies. Herbal preparations made with, and molecules extracted from, Curcuma have been shown to possess a wide variety of pharmacological properties against malignant proliferation, hormonal disorders, inflammation, and parasitosis among other conditions. This review evaluates Curcuma and its associated bioactive compounds, particularly focusing on studies examining the parasiticidal activity of these components against the tropical parasites Plasmodium, leishmania, Trypanosoma, Schistosoma and more generally against other cosmopolitan parasites (nematodes, Babesia, Candida, Giardia, Coccidia and Sarcoptes).

Topics: Animals; Antiparasitic Agents; Babesiosis; Coccidiosis; Curcuma; Curcumin; Giardiasis; Helminthiasis; Humans; Leishmaniasis; Malaria; Parasites; Parasitic Diseases; Plant Preparations; Scabies; Schistosomiasis; Trypanosomiasis

Leishmaniasis, caused by the Leishmania parasite, is one of the most important tropical neglected diseases. The urgent search for effective, inexpensive, and preferably herbal anti-leishmanial agents, is needed.. Curcumin is a natural polyphenolic compound derived from turmeric that is well known for its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, and anti-cancer activity.. The present work evaluates the anti-leishmanial [Leishmania major] activity of curcumin. The infected PBMCs were treated with curcumin. The ROS level at 6, 12, 24 h and gene expression levels at 24, 48, and 72 h of PBMCs after treatment with curcumin were determined.. Based on the results, the curcumin concentrations of 268 μM [24 h] and 181.2 μM [72 h] were defined as IC50 against L. major promastigotes. Treatment of L. major infected-peripheral blood mononuclear cells [PBMCs] with IC50 concentrations of curcumin, depending on exposure time, significantly induced the reactive oxygen species [ROS] generation and increased the expression levels of interferongamma [IFN-γ], tumor necrosis factor-alpha [TNF-α], and nitric oxide synthase [iNOS] genes.. These findings suggest the potential of curcumin against Leishmaniasis.

Topics: Curcumin; Humans; Interferon-gamma; Leishmania major; Leishmaniasis; Leukocytes, Mononuclear; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II; Reactive Oxygen Species; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

Currently, there is no satisfactory treatment for leishmaniases, owing to the cost, mode of administration, side effects and to the increasing emergence of drug resistance. As a consequence, the proteins involved in Leishmania apoptosis seem a target of choice for the development of new therapeutic tools against these neglected tropical diseases. Indeed, Leishmania cell death, while phenotypically similar to mammalian apoptosis, is very peculiar, involving no homologue of the key mammalian apoptotic proteins such as caspases and death receptors. Furthermore, very few proteins involved in Leishmania apoptosis have been identified.. We identified a protein involved in Leishmania apoptosis from a library of genes overexpressed during Leishmania differentiation during which autophagy occurs. Indeed, the gene was overexpressed when L. major cell death was induced by curcumin or miltefosine. Furthermore, its overexpression increased L. major curcumin- and miltefosine-induced apoptosis. This gene, named LmjF.22.0600, whose expression is dependent on the expression of the metacaspase, another apoptotic protein, encodes a putative acetyltransferase.. This new protein, identified as being involved in Leishmania apoptosis, will contribute to a better understanding of Leishmania death, which is needed owing to the absence of a satisfactory treatment against leishmaniases. It will also allow a better understanding of the original apoptotic pathways of eukaryotes in general, while evidence of the existence of such pathways is accumulating.

Topics: Acetyltransferases; Apoptosis; Caspases; Curcumin; Leishmania major; Leishmaniasis; Phosphorylcholine; Protozoan Proteins

Promastigote forms of Leishmania amazonensis were treated with different concentrations of two fractions of Curcuma longa cortex rich in turmerones and their respective liposomal formulations in order to evaluate growth inhibition and the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC). In addition, cellular alterations of treated promastigotes were investigated under transmission and scanning electron microscopies. LipoRHIC and LipoRHIWC presented lower MIC, 5.5 and 12.5 μg/mL, when compared to nonencapsulated fractions (125 and 250 μg/mL), respectively, and to ar-turmerone (50 μg/mL). Parasite growth inhibition was demonstrated to be dose-dependent. Important morphological changes as rounded body and presence of several roles on plasmatic membrane could be seen on L. amazonensis promastigotes after treatment with subinhibitory concentration (2.75 μg/mL) of the most active LipoRHIC. In that sense, the hexane fraction from the turmeric cortex of Curcuma longa incorporated in liposomal formulation (LipoRHIC) could represent good strategy for the development of new antileishmanial agent.

Topics: Chemistry, Pharmaceutical; Curcuma; Hexanes; Humans; Ketones; Leishmania; Leishmania mexicana; Leishmaniasis; Liposomes; Plant Extracts; Sesquiterpenes

Topics: Amidines; Animals; Antimony; Antiprotozoal Agents; Chloroquine; Chlortetracycline; Dapsone; Deoxyribonuclease I; Emetine; Hyaluronoglucosaminidase; Hydrastis; Leishmania tropica; Leishmaniasis; Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous; Leishmaniasis, Mucocutaneous; Mice; Pathology; Pharmacology; Primaquine; Pyrimethamine; Quinacrine; Research; Streptodornase and Streptokinase; Streptokinase; Sulfonamides; Surface-Active Agents; Toxicology