title: New delivery systems for amphotericin B applied to the improvement of leishmaniasis treatment.
abstract: Leishmaniasis is one of the six major tropical diseases targeted by the World Health Organization. It is a life-threatening disease of medical, social and economic importance in endemic areas. No vaccine is yet available for human use, and chemotherapy presents several problems. Pentavalent antimonials have been the drugs of choice to treat the disease for more than six decades; however, they exhibit high toxicity and are not indicated for children, for pregnant or breastfeeding women or for chronically ill patients. Amphotericin B (AmpB) is a second-line drug, and although it has been increasingly used to treat visceral leishmaniasis (VL), its clinical use has been hampered due to its high toxicity. This review focuses on the development and in vivo usage of new delivery systems for AmpB that aim to decrease its toxicity without altering its therapeutic efficacy. These new formulations, when adjusted with regard to their production costs, may be considered new drug delivery systems that promise to improve the treatment of leishmaniasis, by reducing the side effects and the number of doses while permitting a satisfactory cost-benefit ratio.
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Saúde: Infectologia e Medicina Tropical, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Miguel Angel
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Chávez-Fumagalli
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Farmacêuticas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Tatiana Gomes
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Ribeiro
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Farmacêuticas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rachel Oliveira
authors.initials: RO
authors.lastname: Castilho
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Análises Clínicas e Toxicológicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Simone Odília Antunes
authors.initials: SO
authors.lastname: Fernandes
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Análises Clínicas e Toxicológicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Valbert Nascimento
authors.initials: VN
authors.lastname: Cardoso
authors.affiliation: Bioprospection Ltda, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Cecília Steinberg Perilo
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Coelho
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Patologia Clínica, Colégio Técnico, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Débora Vasconcelos Costa
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Mendonça
authors.affiliation: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas-Universidad Autonoma de Madrid;Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Soto
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Carlos Alberto Pereira
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Tavares
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Farmacêuticas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: André Augusto Gomes
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Faraco
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Saúde: Infectologia e Medicina Tropical, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Eduardo Antonio Ferraz
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Coelho
mesh_terms: D000666:Amphotericin B / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D000818:Animals; D000981:Antiprotozoal Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002626:Chemistry, Pharmaceutical; D004285:Dogs; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D006801:Humans; D007898:Leishmaniasis, Visceral / Q000188:drug therapy*; D053758:Nanoparticles; D036103:Nanotechnology
chemical_list: D000981:Antiprotozoal Agents; D000666:Amphotericin B