Nanomedicine Research Center, Department of Pharmaceutics, ISF College of Pharmacy, Moga (PB), India.
Expert Opin Drug Deliv. 2010 Mar;7(3):371-402. doi: 10.1517/17425240903548232.
Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is the most overwhelming type of leishmaniasis associated with the poverty of developing countries and usually mortal if untreated. Most of the conventionally used dosage forms offer us the shortcomings of toxic side effects and emergence of drug resistance. Several efforts have been made to overcome the barriers involved in the treatment of VL. Colloidal carriers extensively represent the drug delivery systems (DDSs) for intracellular localization of antileishmanial compounds in macrophage-rich organs such as liver, spleen and bone marrow. These DDSs offer superior therapeutic efficacy over the conventional treatment in terms of site-specific drug delivery with reduced side effects. However, after 35 years of research in the field, AmBisome (Amphotericin B liposome for injection, Astellas Pharma US, Inc.) is the only DDS used against the VL.
A literature search was performed (for drugs and DDSs against VL) on PubMed and through Google.
This review aims to describe the pathophysiology of VL and its current conventional treatment with special reference to DDSs designed against VL.
On reviewing the conventional drugs and DDSs developed against VL, it is concluded that advances in the field of targeted drug delivery can result in more efficient strategies for the therapy of VL.
内脏利什曼病（VL）是最具破坏性的利什曼病类型，与发展中国家的贫困有关，如果未经治疗通常是致命的。大多数常规使用的剂型都存在毒性副作用和耐药性产生的缺点。为克服治疗 VL 所涉及的障碍，已经做出了许多努力。胶体载体广泛代表了药物输送系统（DDS），可将抗利什曼化合物靶向递送至富含巨噬细胞的器官，如肝脏、脾脏和骨髓。与传统治疗相比，这些 DDS 具有更好的治疗效果，可实现靶向药物递送，减少副作用。然而，在该领域经过 35 年的研究后，AmBisome（注射用两性霉素 B 脂质体，Astellas Pharma US，Inc.）是唯一用于治疗 VL 的 DDS。
在 PubMed 上进行了针对 VL 的药物和 DDS 的文献检索，并通过 Google 进行了检索。
本综述旨在描述 VL 的病理生理学及其当前的常规治疗方法，并特别参考针对 VL 设计的 DDS。
在审查针对 VL 开发的常规药物和 DDS 后，可以得出结论，靶向药物输送领域的进展可以为 VL 的治疗带来更有效的策略。
