Dehydrothyrsiferol Against Cutaneous Leishmaniasis: Treatment Outcome in a Murine Model
One of the most important steps in preclinical drug discovery is to demonstrate the in vivo efficacy of potential leishmanicidal compounds and good characteristics at the level of parasite killing prior to initiating human clinical trials. This paper describes the use of dehydrothyrsiferol (DT), isolated from the red alga <i>Laurencia viridis</i>, in a pharmaceutical form supported on Sepigel, and the in vivo efficacy against a mouse model of cutaneous leishmaniasis. Studying the ultrastructural effect of DT was also carried out to verify the suspected damage at the cellular level and determine the severity of damages produced in the homeostasis of promastigotes. BALB/c mice infected with <i>Leishmania amazonensis</i> were divided into four groups: untreated mice, mice treated with miltefosine orally and mice treated topically with 1% and 0.5% DT-Sepigel; treatment was carried out for two weeks. Treatment with DT significantly reduced the parasite load in skin, liver and spleen compared with the untreated group. In addition, DT-Sepigel at the lowest concentration (0.5%) showed the best results, reducing lesion size by 87% at 3 weeks post-treatment. DT-Sepigel has demonstrated to be a potent topical treatment that, in combined drug trials, may aim at combating cutaneous leishmaniasis.
Authors
- Maritza Omaña‐Molina (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5881-4638)
- Rubén L. Rodríguez-Expósito (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3858-836X)
- Lizbeth Salazar‐Villatoro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4172-7153)
- José Enrique Piñero (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6233-8224)
- Ana R. Dı́az-Marrero (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8886-7519)
- Elizabeth Córdoba-Lanús (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5534-8280)
- Atteneri López‐Arencibia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0675-8221)
- Jacob Lorenzo‐Morales (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7683-2888)
- Desirée San Nicolás-Hernández (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6622-1928)
- Francisco Cen‐Pacheco (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8506-2435)
- José J. Fernández (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0805-8317)
- Carlos J. Bethencourt-Estrella (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3486-7740)
- Angélica Domínguez-de-Barros (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-8562-6403)
Institutions
- Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ES)
- Universidad Veracruzana (MX)
- Universidad de La Laguna (ES)
- Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ES)
- Instituto de Productos Naturales y Agrobiología (ES)
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red (ES)
- Instituto Politécnico Nacional (MX)
- Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (MX)
- Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (MX)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Marine Drugs
- Published
- 2024-12-28
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/md23010013
- Primary Topic
- Research on Leishmaniasis Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Fundación CajaCanarias
- Universidad de La Laguna
- European Commission
- Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
- Cabildo de Tenerife
- Instituto de Salud Carlos III
- Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional