title: Antimony resistance in leishmania, focusing on experimental research.
abstract: Leishmaniases are parasitic diseases that spread in many countries with a prevalence of 12 million cases. There are few available treatments and antimonials are still of major importance in the therapeutic strategies used in most endemic regions. However, resistance toward these compounds has recently emerged in areas where the replacement of these drugs is mainly limited by the cost of alternative molecules. In this paper, we reviewed the studies carried out on antimonial resistance in Leishmania. Several common limitations of these works are presented before prevalent approaches to evidence antimonial resistance are related. Afterwards, phenotypic determination of resistance is described, then confronted to clinical outcome. Finally, we detail molecular mechanisms and targets involved in resistance and already identified in vitro within selected mutant strains or in clinical isolates.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Parasitologie, Hôpital de la Timone, 264 rue Saint-Pierre, 13385 Marseille Cedex 05, France.
authors.forename: Fakhri
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jeddi
authors.forename: Renaud
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Piarroux
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mary