Institute for Medical Research and Medicinal Plants Studies, Yaoundé 13033, Cameroon.
Department of Parasitology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR), College of Health Sciences (CHS), University of Ghana, Legon LG 581, Ghana.
Mar Drugs. 2017 Oct 29;15(11):323. doi: 10.3390/md15110323.
Leishmaniasis is a vector-borne neglected tropical disease caused by protozoan parasites of the genus and transmitted by the female and sand flies. The currently prescribed therapies still rely on pentavalent antimonials, pentamidine, paromomycin, liposomal amphotericin B, and miltefosine. However, their low efficacy, long-course treatment regimen, high toxicity, adverse side effects, induction of parasite resistance and high cost require the need for better drugs given that antileishmanial vaccines may not be available in the near future. Although most drugs are still derived from terrestrial sources, the interest in marine organisms as a potential source of promising novel bioactive natural agents has increased in recent years. About 28,000 compounds of marine origin have been isolated with hundreds of new chemical entities. Recent trends in drug research from natural resources indicated the high interest of aquatic eukaryotic photosynthetic organisms, marine algae in the search for new chemical entities given their broad spectrum and high bioactivities including antileishmanial potential. This current review describes prepared extracts and compounds from marine macroalgae along with their antileishmanial activity and provides prospective insights for antileishmanial drug discovery.
利什曼病是一种由原生动物寄生虫引起的媒介传播性热带病，由雌性 和 沙蝇传播。目前规定的治疗方法仍然依赖于五价锑、喷他脒、巴龙霉素、脂质体两性霉素 B 和米替福新。然而，它们的疗效低、疗程长、毒性高、不良反应、诱导寄生虫耐药性和高成本需要更好的药物，因为抗利什曼病疫苗可能在不久的将来无法获得。尽管大多数药物仍来自陆地来源，但近年来人们对海洋生物作为有前途的新型生物活性天然药物的潜在来源的兴趣有所增加。已经分离出约 28000 种海洋来源的化合物，其中有数百种新的化学实体。近年来从自然资源中进行药物研究的趋势表明，水生真核光合生物、海洋藻类因其广谱性和高生物活性（包括抗利什曼病潜力）而受到广泛关注。本综述描述了海洋大型藻类的提取物和化合物及其抗利什曼病活性，并为抗利什曼病药物发现提供了前瞻性见解。
