Article
Antileishmanial Efficacy of the Calpain Inhibitor MDL28170 in Combination with Amphotericin B
Registro en:
BRANQUINHA, Marta H. et al. Antileishmanial Efficacy of the Calpain Inhibitor MDL28170 in Combination with Amphotericin B. Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease, v. 7, n. 29, p. 1 - 15, Feb. 2022.
2414-6366
10.3390/tropicalmed 7020029
Autor
Branquinha, Marta H.
Araújo, Pedro S. S.
Oliveira, Simone S. C.
Sangenito, Leandro S.
Gonçalves, Diego S.
Seabra, Sergio H.
d`Avila-Levy, Claudia M.
Santos, André L.S.
Resumen
The necessity of drug combinations to treat leishmaniasis came to the surface mainly
because of the toxicity of current treatments and the emergence of resistant strains. The calpain
inhibitor MDL28170 has previously shown anti-Leishmania activity, therefore its use in association
with standard drugs could provide a new alternative for the treatment strategy against leishmaniasis.
In this study, we analyzed the potential of the combination of MDL28170 and the antileishmanial drug
amphotericin B against Leishmania amazonensis and Leishmania chagasi. The compounds were tested
in the combination of the 1/2 IC50 value of MDL28170 plus the 1/4 IC50 value of amphotericin
B, which led to an increment in the anti-promastigote activity when compared to the single drug
treatments. This drug association revealed several and severe morphophysiological changes on
parasite cells, such as loss of plasma membrane integrity, reduced size of flagellum, and depolarization
of mitochondrial membrane potential besides increased reactive oxygen species production. In
addition, the combination of both drugs had a deleterious effect on the Leishmania–macrophage
interaction, reflecting in a significant anti-amastigote action, which achieved a reduction of 50% in the
association index. These results indicate that the combination treatment proposed here may represent
a new alternative for leishmaniasis chemotherapy.