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Biomedicines
Special Issues
Leishmaniasis: Pathophysiology, Diagnostics and Current and Emerging Therapeutic Approaches
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Leishmaniasis: Pathophysiology, Diagnostics and Current and Emerging Therapeutic Approaches

A special issue of Biomedicines (ISSN 2227-9059). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular and Translational Medicine".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2025 | Viewed by 4890

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Raimunda Nonata Ribeiro Sampaio

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Dermatology Service, University Hospital of Brasília, Faculty of Medicine, University of Brasília, Brasília, DF, Brazil
Interests: leishmaniasis; epidemiology; pathophysiology; novel biomarkers; host–parasite interactions; diagnostic tools; therapeutic intervention
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Approximately 20 distinct Leishmania species induce three main diseases: cutaneous, mucosal, visceral and other serious forms of leishmaniasis, such as dermal-post-kala-azar, diffuse and disseminated leishmaniasis.

Today, more than 1 billion people worldwide are at risk of this disease.

The differential diagnosis of numerous infections, other granulomatous and neoplastic diseases vital. Currently, a gold standard of diagnosis is lacking and physicians employ epidemiological, clinical and laboratory criteria. Techniques involving smear and culture have low sensitivity, the widely applied serology possesses a low specificity, and the intradermal skin test is not employed now because it lacks standardization. PCR has enhanced the sensitivity but has limited application if the disease is more frequent.

There is a great lack of knowledge regarding the pathophysiology of the disease. To date, the routes used by the parasite and the time it takes to spread from the primary lesion to other sites remain unknown.

Treatment is the mainstay control of leishmaniasis, but to date, only three first-line drugs are available:  antimony, amphotericin B and miltefosine. The drug of choice during treatment, antimony, was introduced into the therapeutic arsenal at the beginning of the last century. A lack of methodological standardization in clinical studies, a diminished therapeutic arsenal, drug toxicity and drug resistance are considered to be the major challenges hindering the progress of therapeutics.

We cordially invite the submission of basic and translational original research and review papers that attend to various aspects of leishmaniasis:

  • new and innovative therapeutic interventions to treat;
  • novel diagnostic tools;
  • novel biomarkers for disease morbidity;
  • mechanism of pathophysiology, drug action and resistance.

Prof. Dr. Raimunda Nonata Ribeiro Sampaio
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Biomedicines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • leishmaniasis
  • pathophysiology

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 1066 KiB  
Article
Selenium-Containing (Hetero)Aryl Hybrids as Potential Antileishmanial Drug Candidates: In Vitro Screening against L. amazonensis
by Maria Helena Fermiano, Amarith Rodrigues das Neves, Fernanda da Silva, Manuella Salustiano Andrade Barros, Camila Barbosa Vieira, André L. Stein, Tiago Elias Allievi Frizon, Antonio Luiz Braga, Carla Cardozo Pinto de Arruda, Eduardo Benedetti Parisotto, Sumbal Saba, Jamal Rafique and Thalita Bachelli Riul
Biomedicines 2024, 12(1), 213; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines12010213 - 17 Jan 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1444
Abstract
Leishmaniasis remains a significant global health concern, with current treatments relying on outdated drugs associated with high toxicity, lengthy administration, elevated costs, and drug resistance. Consequently, the urgent need for safer and more effective therapeutic options in leishmaniasis treatment persists. Previous research has [...] Read more.
Leishmaniasis remains a significant global health concern, with current treatments relying on outdated drugs associated with high toxicity, lengthy administration, elevated costs, and drug resistance. Consequently, the urgent need for safer and more effective therapeutic options in leishmaniasis treatment persists. Previous research has highlighted selenium compounds as promising candidates for innovative leishmaniasis therapy. In light of this, a library of 10 selenium-containing diverse compounds was designed and evaluated in this study. These compounds included selenium-substituted indole, coumarin, chromone, oxadiazole, imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine, Imidazo[2,1-b]thiazole, and oxazole, among others. These compounds were screened against Leishmania amazonensis promastigotes and intracellular amastigotes, and their cytotoxicity was assessed in peritoneal macrophages, NIH/3T3, and J774A.1 cells. Among the tested compounds, MRK-106 and MRK-108 displayed the highest potency against L. amazonensis promastigotes with reduced cytotoxicity. Notably, MRK-106 and MRK-108 exhibited IC50 values of 3.97 µM and 4.23 µM, respectively, and most of the tested compounds showed low cytotoxicity in host cells (CC50 > 200 µM). Also, compounds MRK-107 and MRK-113 showed activity against intracellular amastigotes (IC50 18.31 and 15.93 µM and SI 12.55 and 10.92, respectively). In conclusion, the identified selenium-containing compounds hold potential structures as antileishmanial drug candidates to be further explored in subsequent studies. These findings represent a significant step toward the development of safer and more effective therapies for leishmaniasis, addressing the pressing need for novel and improved treatments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Leishmaniasis: Pathophysiology, Diagnostics and Current and Emerging Therapeutic Approaches)
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14 pages, 3227 KiB  
Article
Automated Identification of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Lesions Using Deep-Learning-Based Artificial Intelligence
by José Fabrício de Carvalho Leal, Daniel Holanda Barroso, Natália Santos Trindade, Vinícius Lima de Miranda and Rodrigo Gurgel-Gonçalves
Biomedicines 2024, 12(1), 12; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines12010012 - 20 Dec 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2163
Abstract
The polymorphism of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) complicates diagnosis in health care services because lesions may be confused with other dermatoses such as sporotrichosis, paracocidiocomycosis, and venous insufficiency. Automated identification of skin diseases based on deep learning (DL) has been applied to assist diagnosis. [...] Read more.
The polymorphism of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) complicates diagnosis in health care services because lesions may be confused with other dermatoses such as sporotrichosis, paracocidiocomycosis, and venous insufficiency. Automated identification of skin diseases based on deep learning (DL) has been applied to assist diagnosis. In this study, we evaluated the performance of AlexNet, a DL algorithm, to identify pictures of CL lesions in patients from Midwest Brazil. We used a set of 2458 pictures (up to 10 of each lesion) obtained from patients treated between 2015 and 2022 in the Leishmaniasis Clinic at the University Hospital of Brasilia. We divided the picture database into training (80%), internal validation (10%), and testing sets (10%), and trained and tested AlexNet to identify pictures of CL lesions. We performed three simulations and trained AlexNet to differentiate CL from 26 other dermatoses (e.g., chromomycosis, ecthyma, venous insufficiency). We obtained an average accuracy of 95.04% (Confidence Interval 95%: 93.81–96.04), indicating an excellent performance of AlexNet in identifying pictures of CL lesions. We conclude that automated CL identification using AlexNet has the potential to assist clinicians in diagnosing skin lesions. These results contribute to the development of a mobile application to assist in the diagnosis of CL in health care services. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Leishmaniasis: Pathophysiology, Diagnostics and Current and Emerging Therapeutic Approaches)
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Review

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10 pages, 1018 KiB  
Review
Advance in Nrf2 Signaling Pathway in Leishmaniasis
by Sarmistha Saha, Nadezhda Sachivkina, Olga Kuznetsova, Ekaterina Neborak and Natallia Zhabo
Biomedicines 2024, 12(11), 2525; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines12112525 - 4 Nov 2024
Viewed by 499
Abstract
One of the main components of innate defense against invasive parasites is oxidative stress, which is brought on by reactive oxygen species (ROS). On the other hand, oxidative stressors serve two purposes: free radicals aid in the elimination of pathogens, but they can [...] Read more.
One of the main components of innate defense against invasive parasites is oxidative stress, which is brought on by reactive oxygen species (ROS). On the other hand, oxidative stressors serve two purposes: free radicals aid in the elimination of pathogens, but they can also set off inflammation, which leads to tissue damage. Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) is a transcription factor that controls the expression of numerous genes involved in the body’s defense against oxidative stress brought on by aging, inflammation, tissue damage, and other pathological consequences. From cutaneous to visceral forms, Leishmania parasites invade macrophages and cause a wide range of human pathologies. Leishmania parasites have a wide range of adaptive mechanisms that disrupt several macrophage functions by altering host signaling pathways. An increasing amount of data are corroborating the idea that one of the primary antioxidant routes to counteract this oxidative burst against parasites is NRF2 signaling, which also interferes with immune responses. The nature and potency of the host immune response, as well as interactions between the invading Leishmania spp., will ascertain the course of infection and the parasites’ eventual survival or eradication. The molecular processes via which Nrf2 coordinates such intricate networks comprising various pathways remain to be completely understood. In light of NRF2’s significant contribution to oxidative stress, we examine the NRF2 antioxidant pathway’s activation mechanism in Leishmania infection in this review. Thus, this review will examine the relationship between Nrf2 signaling and leishmaniasis, as well as explore potential therapeutic strategies for modifying this system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Leishmaniasis: Pathophysiology, Diagnostics and Current and Emerging Therapeutic Approaches)
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