Identification of metal dithiocarbamates as a novel class of antileishmanial agents.

ABSTRACT: Dithiocarbamates have emerged as potent carbonic anhydrase (CA) inhibitors in recent years. Given that CAs are important players in cellular metabolism, the objective of this work was to exploit the CA-inhibitory property of dithiocarbamates as a chemotherapeutic weapon against the Leishmania parasite. We report here strong antileishmanial activity of three hitherto unexplored metal dithiocarbamates, maneb, zineb, and propineb. They inhibited CA activity in Leishmania major promastigotes at submicromolar concentrations and resulted in a dose-dependent inhibition of parasite growth. Treatment with maneb, zineb, and propineb caused morphological deformities of the parasite and Leishmania cell death with 50% lethal dose (LD50) values of 0.56 μM, 0.61 μM, and 0.27 μM, respectively. These compo

SUBMITTER: Pal DS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4356755 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature