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Nano amphotericin B: a good anti-leishmanial drug with effect on cathelicidin gene expression

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Abstract

Protozoan parasites, such as Leishmania major (L. major), remained as a global health problem of the current century. Leishmania major is a major cause of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in developed and developing countries. Traditionally, amphotericin B is prescribed as an alternative drug, while first-line drugs failed. Some active proteins of the innate immune system such as cathelicidins try to inhibit infection Via several proposed mechanisms. Here this research aimed to not only determine the anti-leishmanial activity of nano amphotericin B but also to evaluate which anti-leishmanial drug can induce the cathelicidin gene expression. Both promastigote and amastigote stages of L. major were exposed to various concentrations of nano amphotericin B, amphotericin B and finally compared to glucan time as standard drug for CL treatment. For the gene expression of cathelicidin, macrophages were exposed to the same concentration of anti-leishmanial drugs. The findings demonstrated that nano amphotericin B was more effective at all concentrations than amphotericin B. Additionally, among tested anti-leishmanial drugs, nano amphotericin B has more potency to induce the cathelicidin gene expression in macrophages cells. The findings revealed that nano amphotericin B has potential as an effective anti-leishmanial drug against CL caused by L. major parasites.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge all staff from the Leishmania research center in Iran and Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran for their useful assistance.

Funding

No research grants have been considered for this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Kerman University of Medical Science, Kerman, Iran

    Nima Firouzeh & Arash Asadi

  2. Infectious Disease Research Center, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran

    Amir Tavakoli Kareshk

  3. Student Research Committee, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran

    Amir Tavakoli Kareshk

Authors
  1. Nima Firouzeh
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  2. Arash Asadi
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  3. Amir Tavakoli Kareshk
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All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Amir Tavakoli Kareshk.

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The authors declare no conflicts of interest in this work.

Ethical approval to work on animals

The present study is approved by Ethical Review Board of Kerman University of Medical Sciences (Kerman, Iran) code IR.KMU.REC.1394.208.

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Firouzeh, N., Asadi, A. & Tavakoli Kareshk, A. Nano amphotericin B: a good anti-leishmanial drug with effect on cathelicidin gene expression. J Parasit Dis 45, 366–371 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12639-020-01308-3

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