Naegleria fowleri is a ubiquitous, pathogenic free-living amoeba; it is the most virulent Naegleria species and causes primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAME) in laboratory animals and humans. Although amphotericin B is currently the only agent available for the treatment of PAME, it is a very toxic antibiotic and may cause many adverse effects on other organs. In order to find other potenti...

OBJECTIVES Apoptosis is the process of programmed cell death (PCD) that occurs in both animal and plant cells. Protozoan parasites possess metacaspase and these caspase-related proteases could be involved in the PCD pathways in these organisms. Therefore we analyzed the activities of metacaspase and PARP genes in Leishmania infantum (MCAN/IR/96/LON49) treated with miltefosine. MATERIALS AND M...

BACKGROUND Therapeutic response in infectious disease involves host as well as microbial determinants. Because the immune and inflammatory response to Leishmania (Viannia) species defines the outcome of infection and efficacy of treatment, immunomodulation is considered a promising therapeutic strategy. However, since Leishmania infection and antileishmanial drugs can themselves modulate drug t...

BACKGROUND The only oral drug available for the treatment of leishmaniasis is miltefosine, described and approved for visceral leishmaniasis in India. Miltefosine is under evaluation for the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Americas although its efficacy for the treatment of human visceral leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania infantum chagasi has not been described. Drug efficacy for v...

Although oral miltefosine represented an important therapeutic advance in the treatment of leishmaniasis, the appearance of resistance remains a serious threat. LMDR1/LABCB4, a P-glycoprotein-like transporter included in the Leishmania ABC (ATP-binding cassette) family, was the first molecule shown to be involved in experimental miltefosine resistance. LMDR1 pumps drugs out of the parasite, the...

BACKGROUND High frequency of relapse in miltefosine-treated visceral leishmaniasis (VL) patients in India and Nepal followed up for twelve months. OBJECTIVE To identify epidemiological and clinical risk factors for relapse of VL in patients recently treated with standard dosing of miltefosine in India and Nepal. DESIGN Prospective observational study in three Primary Health Centers and one ...

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 ...

Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) is an opportunistic infection amongst HIV-infected people in several endemic countries, and the clinical management of this co-infection poses several challenges. Here we describe a co-infected patient in India who failed to respond to miltefosine monotherapy and subsequently relapsed following two further (different) regimens of liposomal amphotericin B. He was then...

Miltefosine is the only recognized oral agent with potential to treat leishmaniasis. Miltefosine had demonstrated very good cure rates for visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh, but high rates of clinical failures have been recently reported. Moderate efficacy has been observed for VL in East Africa, whereas data from Mediterranean countries and Latin America are scarce. R...

BACKGROUND Miltefosine, an anti-cancer drug that has been successfully repositioned for treatment of Leishmania infections, has recently also shown promising effects against Schistosoma spp targeting all life cycle stages of the parasite. The current study examined the effect of treating Schistosoma mansoni adult worms with miltefosine on exposure of worm surface antigens in vitro. METHODOLOG...