Król Grzegorz, Fortunka Kamila, Majchrzak Michał, Piktel Ewelina, Paprocka Paulina, Mańkowska Angelika, Lesiak Agata, Karasiński Maciej, Strzelecka Agnieszka, Durnaś Bonita, Bucki Robert
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Medical Science, Collegium Medicum, Jan Kochanowski University, IX Wieków Kielc 19A, 25-317 Kielce, Poland.
Independent Laboratory of Nanomedicine, Medical University of Białystok, Mickiewicza 2B, 15-222 Białystok, Poland.
Pathogens. 2023 Jun 17;12(6):838. doi: 10.3390/pathogens12060838.
The usage of nanotechnology in the fight against parasitic diseases is in the early stages of development, but it brings hopes that this new field will provide a solution to target the early stages of parasitosis, compensate for the lack of vaccines for most parasitic diseases, and also provide new treatment options for diseases in which parasites show increased resistance to current drugs. The huge physicochemical diversity of nanomaterials developed so far, mainly for antibacterial and anti-cancer therapies, requires additional studies to determine their antiparasitic potential. When designing metallic nanoparticles (MeNPs) and specific nanosystems, such as complexes of MeNPs, with the shell of attached drugs, several physicochemical properties need to be considered. The most important are: size, shape, surface charge, type of surfactants that control their dispersion, and shell molecules that should assure specific molecular interaction with targeted molecules of parasites' cells. Therefore, it can be expected that the development of antiparasitic drugs using strategies provided by nanotechnology and the use of nanomaterials for diagnostic purposes will soon provide new and effective methods of antiparasitic therapy and effective diagnostic tools that will improve the prevention and reduce the morbidity and mortality caused by these diseases.
纳米技术在抗击寄生虫病方面的应用尚处于发展初期，但它带来了希望，即这一新领域将为针对寄生虫病早期阶段提供解决方案，弥补大多数寄生虫病疫苗的不足，还为寄生虫对现有药物耐药性增加的疾病提供新的治疗选择。迄今为止开发的纳米材料主要用于抗菌和抗癌治疗，其巨大的物理化学多样性需要进一步研究以确定它们的抗寄生虫潜力。在设计金属纳米颗粒（MeNPs）和特定的纳米系统，如带有附着药物外壳的MeNPs复合物时，需要考虑几个物理化学性质。最重要的是：尺寸、形状、表面电荷、控制其分散的表面活性剂类型，以及应确保与寄生虫细胞靶向分子发生特定分子相互作用的外壳分子。因此，可以预期，利用纳米技术提供的策略开发抗寄生虫药物以及将纳米材料用于诊断目的，将很快提供新的有效抗寄生虫治疗方法和有效的诊断工具，从而改善预防措施并降低这些疾病导致的发病率和死亡率。
