Nanoparticles for the treatment of visceral leishmaniasis: review

摘要

Visceral leishmaniasis is an infectious disease caused by the protozoan Leishmania. Due to the lack of vaccines and the limitations of current treatment (toxicity, serious adverse effects, and high cost), new therapeutic options must be developed. This work aims to perform a systematic review focusing on studies that use nanoparticles to treat visceral leishmaniasis, with in vivo tests to evaluate the antileishmanial effect. The search was carried out between January 2011 and August 2021 in the PubMed and Web of Science databases, using the keywords "visceral leishmaniasis and nanoparticles and in vivo. " The articles were selected through inclusion and exclusion criteria. After the analysis, 26 articles were selected containing polymeric, lipidic, metallic, and inorganic nanoparticles. As for the nanometric size, the polymeric and lipid nanoparticles showed size ranges from 138 to 377.9 nm and 103.7 to 266.3 nm, respectively. The inorganic nanoparticles had a size of around 140 nm. Also, the metallic nanoparticles showed sizes of 58.6, 134.3, and 142.7 nm. In addition, amphotericin B was the most used drug. In some studies, drug co-encapsulation was performed, which is a future trend, useful to increase the therapeutic efficacy of the treatment. The studies showed that the use of nanoparticles for drug delivery was able to reduce the parasite burden and toxicity. Nanoparticles can increase the efficacy and safety of the treatment, suggesting a promising option for visceral leishmaniasis treatment.