by Keyword: primaquine
Fonte, M, Fontinha, D, Moita, D, Caño-Prades, O, Avalos-Padilla, Y, Fernàndez-Busquets, X, Prudencio, M, Gomes, P, Teixeira, C, (2023). New 4-(N-cinnamoylbutyl)aminoacridines as potential multi-stage antiplasmodial leads European Journal Of Medicinal Chemistry 258, 115575 
A novel family of 4-aminoacridine derivatives was obtained by linking this heteroaromatic core to different trans-cinnamic acids. The 4-(N-cinnamoylbutyl)aminoacridines obtained exhibited in vitro activity in the low- or sub-micromolar range against (i) hepatic stages of Plasmodium berghei, (ii) erythrocytic forms of Plasmodium falciparum, and (iii) early and mature gametocytes of Plasmodium falciparum. The most active compound, having a meta-fluorocinnamoyl group linked to the acridine core, was 20- and 120-fold more potent, respectively, against the hepatic and gametocyte stages of Plasmodium infection than the reference drug, primaquine. Moreover, no cytotoxicity towards mammalian and red blood cells at the concentrations tested was observed for any of the compounds under investigation. These novel conjugates represent promising leads for the development of new multi-target antiplasmodials.Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.. All rights reserved.
JTD Keywords: agents, analogs, antimalarial, artemisinin, blood-stage, cinnamic acid, gametocyte, hybrid, liver-stage, malaria, multi-target, plasmodium-falciparum, primaquine, quinacrine, resistance, Acridine, Antimalarial, Blood-stage, Cinnamic acid, Cinnamic acid-derivatives, Gametocyte, Hybrid, Liver-stage, Multi-target
Aguiar, L., Biosca, A., Lantero, E., Gut, J., Vale, N., Rosenthal, P. J., Nogueira, F., Andreu, D., Fernàndez-Busquets, X., Gomes, P., (2019). Coupling the antimalarial cell penetrating peptide TP10 to classical antimalarial drugs primaquine and chloroquine produces strongly hemolytic conjugates Molecules 24, (24), 4559
Recently, we disclosed primaquine cell penetrating peptide conjugates that were more potent than parent primaquine against liver stage Plasmodium parasites and non-toxic to hepatocytes. The same strategy was now applied to the blood-stage antimalarial chloroquine, using a wide set of peptides, including TP10, a cell penetrating peptide with intrinsic antiplasmodial activity. Chloroquine-TP10 conjugates displaying higher antiplasmodial activity than the parent TP10 peptide were identified, at the cost of an increased hemolytic activity, which was further confirmed for their primaquine analogues. Fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry suggest that these drug-peptide conjugates strongly bind, and likely destroy, erythrocyte membranes. Taken together, the results herein reported put forward that coupling antimalarial aminoquinolines to cell penetrating peptides delivers hemolytic conjugates. Hence, despite their widely reported advantages as carriers for many different types of cargo, from small drugs to biomacromolecules, cell penetrating peptides seem unsuitable for safe intracellular delivery of antimalarial aminoquinolines due to hemolysis issues. This highlights the relevance of paying attention to hemolytic effects of cell penetrating peptide-drug conjugates.
JTD Keywords: Antimalarial, Cell penetrating peptide, Chloroquine, Erythrocyte fluorescence, Flow cytometry, Hemolysis, Microscopy, Plasmodium, Primaquine, Red blood cell
Marques, J., Moles, E., Urbán, P., Prohens, R., Busquets, M. A., Sevrin, C., Grandfils, C., Fernàndez-Busquets, X., (2014). Application of heparin as a dual agent with antimalarial and liposome targeting activities toward Plasmodium-infected red blood cells Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology, and Medicine 10, (8), 1719-1728
Heparin had been demonstrated to have antimalarial activity and specific binding affinity for Plasmodium-infected red blood cells (pRBCs) vs. non-infected erythrocytes. Here we have explored if both properties could be joined into a drug delivery strategy where heparin would have a dual role as antimalarial and as a targeting element of drug-loaded nanoparticles. Confocal fluorescence and transmission electron microscopy data show that after 30. min of being added to living pRBCs fluorescein-labeled heparin colocalizes with the intracellular parasites. Heparin electrostatically adsorbed onto positively charged liposomes containing the cationic lipid 1,2-dioleoyl-3-trimethylammonium-propane and loaded with the antimalarial drug primaquine was capable of increasing three-fold the activity of encapsulated drug in Plasmodium falciparum cultures. At concentrations below those inducing anticoagulation of mouse blood in vivo, parasiticidal activity was found to be the additive result of the separate activities of free heparin as antimalarial and of liposome-bound heparin as targeting element for encapsulated primaquine. From the Clinical Editor: Malaria remains an enormous global public health concern. In this study, a novel functionalized heparin formulation used as drug delivery agent for primaquine was demonstrated to result in threefold increased drug activity in cell cultures, and in a murine model it was able to provide these benefits in concentrations below what would be required for anticoagulation. Further studies are needed determine if this approach is applicable in the human disease as well.
JTD Keywords: Heparin, Liposomes, Malaria, Plasmodium, Targeted drug delivery, Heparin, Malaria, Plasmodium, Red blood cell, Targeted drug delivery, Liposomes, 1,2 dioleoyl 3 trimethylammoniopropane, fluorescein, heparin, liposome, nanoparticle, primaquine, adsorption, animal experiment, anticoagulation, antimalarial activity, Article, binding affinity, confocal microscopy, controlled study, drug targeting, encapsulation, erythrocyte, female, fluorescence microscopy, human, human cell, in vivo study, liposomal delivery, mouse, nonhuman, Plasmodium falciparum, transmission electron microscopy
