Cutaneous leishmaniasis affects nearly 0.7 to 1.3 million people annually. Treatment of this disease is difficult due to lack of appropriate medication and the growing problem of drug resistance. Natural compounds such as coumarins serve as complementary therapeutic agents in addition to the current treatment modalities. In this study, we have performed an in-silico screening of the coumarin de...

The program DOCK3.5 was used to search the Cambridge Structural Database for novel inhibitors of Leishmanial dihydrofolate reductase. A number of compounds were obtained and screened against the enzyme and against the intact parasite Leishmania donovani and the related organisms Trypanosoma brucei and Trypanosoma cruzi. The compounds screened showed weak activity in both the enzyme assays and t...

In both scid and BALB/c mouse-Leishmania donovani models, hexadecyphosphocholine (miltefosine) and AmBisome had similar levels of activity. In contrast, sodium stibogluconate (Pentostam) was significantly less active against L. donovani in scid mice than in BALB/c mice. The in vitro anti-leishmanial activity of miltefosine was similar in peritoneal macrophages derived from both scid and BALB/c ...

The macrophage-expressed CD40 regulates immune responses to Leishmania major infection by reciprocal signaling through p38 MAPK and ERK1/2. CD40-induced IL-10 or IL-12 plays crucial roles in the promotion or protection from L. major infection, respectively. Because p38 MAPK and ERK1/2 are dephosphorylated by dual-specificity MAPK phosphatases (MKPs), we tested the role of CD40 in the regulation...

In seeking new drugs for the treatment of the parasitic disease Leishmaniasis, an extensive range of organometallic antimony(v) dicarboxylates of the form [SbR3(O2CR')2] have been synthesised, characterised and evaluated. The organometallic moieties (R) in the complexes vary in being Ph, tolyl (o, m or p), or benzyl. The carboxylates are predominantly substituted benzoates with some compounds i...

Differential diagnosis of NLCS includes nevus sebaceous, skin tag or fibroepithelial polyp, neurofibroma, lymphangioma, lipofibroma, focal dermal hypoplasia (Goltz syndrome), lipomatosis, and Michelin tire baby syndrome.[2,4] Histopathological examination helps in the differentiation. There is absence of fat cells in the dermis in skin tag. In lipofibroma skin, appendages are absent in the derm...

Leishmaniasis remains a major health problem of the tropical and subtropical world. The visceral form causes the most fatalities if left untreated. Dramatic increases in the rates of infection and drug resistance and the non-availability of safe vaccines have highlighted the need for identification of novel and inexpensive anti-leishmanial agents. This study reports that racemoside A, a water-s...