Leishmania donovani-infected interleukin-13-/- BALB/c mice showed impaired initial gamma interferon secretion and incomplete granuloma assembly at parasitized liver foci. Nonetheless, control of early parasite replication, resolution of liver infection, and responsiveness to antileishmanial chemotherapy were intact. By itself, interleukin-13 does not appear to materially influence acquired resi...

Leishmaniasis is a growing health problem worldwide. As there are certain drawbacks with the drugs currently used to treat human leishmaniasis and resistance to these drugs is emerging, there is a need to develop novel antileishmanial compounds, among which isoquinoline alkaloids are promising candidates. In this study, 18 novel oxoisoaporphine derivatives were synthesized and their possible an...

Major therapeutic obstacles in the treatment of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) include the alarming increase in antimonial unresponsiveness especially in Bihar, India and relapses in HIV-Leishmania co-infected patients. The therapeutic armamentarium for VL is currently plagued with several limitations as the available drugs are toxic, majority are effective only parenterally and need to be adminis...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Several plant products have been tested and found to possess antileishmanial activity. The present study was undertaken to establish whether methanolic extract of Allium sativum Linn has antileishmanial activity in comparison to standard drugs. METHODS Methanolic extract of A. sativum bulbs was screened for in vitro and in vivo antileishmanial activity against Leishman...

Background and objectives: Several natural compounds have been identified for the treatment ofleishmaniasis. Due to a few safe drugs and the side effects caused by available chemotherapy, some new drugs for treatment of leishmaniasis are requested.  The genus Pulicaria (Asteraceae) is represented in the flora of Iran by five species. Phytochemical studies on Pulicaria...

The newly developed assay system using recombinant Leishmania amazonensis expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein (La/egfp) has been applied to the screening of Japanese marine sponges for antileishmanial activity. Bioassay-guided fractionation of an active sponge Neopetrosia sp. afforded an active compound which was identified as renieramycin A by spectroscopic analysis. It inhibited La/...

Leishmania microtubules play an important role not only in cell division, but also in keeping the shape of the parasite and motility of its free-living stages. Microtubules result from the self-assembly of alpha and beta tubulins, two phylogenetically conserved and very abundant eukaryotic proteins in kinetoplastids. The colchicine binding domain has inspired the discovery and development of se...