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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, December 1999, p. 2910-2914, Vol. 43, No. 12
0066-4804/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Efficacy of the Triazole SCH 56592 against Leishmania amazonensis and Leishmania donovani in Experimental Murine Cutaneous and Visceral Leishmaniases

Hail M. Al-Abdely,1,2,* John R. Graybill,1,2 David Loebenberg,3 and Peter C. Melby1,2

Medical Service, Audie Murphy Veterans Administration Hospital,1 and Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio,2 San Antonio, Texas 78284, and Schering-Plough Research Institute, Kenilworth, New Jersey 078333

Received 18 May 1999/Returned for modification 29 June 1999/Accepted 1 October 1999

Current therapy for leishmaniasis is unsatisfactory. Efficacious and safe oral therapy would be ideal. We examined the efficacy of SCH 56592, an investigational triazole antifungal agent, against cutaneous infection with Leishmania amazonensis and visceral infection with Leishmania donovani in BALB/c mice. Mice were infected in the ear pinna and tail with L. amazonensis promastigotes and were treated with oral SCH 56592 or intraperitoneal amphotericin B for 21 days. At doses of 60 and 30 mg/kg/day, SCH 56592 was highly efficacious in treating cutaneous disease, and at a dose of 60 mg/kg/day, it was superior to amphotericin B at a dose of 1 mg/kg/day. The means of tail lesion sizes were 0.32 ± 0.12, 0.11 ± 0.06, 0.17 ± 0.07, and 0.19 ± 0.08 mm for controls, SCH 56592 at 60 and 30 mg/kg/day, and amphotericin B recipients, respectively (P = 0.0003, 0.005, and 0.01, respectively). Parasite burden in draining lymph nodes confirmed these efficacy findings. In visceral leishmaniasis due to L. donovani infection, mice treated with SCH 56592 showed a 0.5- to 1-log-unit reduction in parasite burdens in the liver and the spleen compared to untreated mice. Amphotericin B at 1 mg/kg/day was superior to SCH 56592 in the treatment of visceral infection, with a 2-log-unit reduction in parasite burdens in both the liver and spleen. These studies indicate very good activity of SCH 56592 against cutaneous leishmaniasis due to L. amazonensis infection and, to a lesser degree, against visceral leishmaniasis due to L. donovani infection in susceptible BALB/c mice.


* Corresponding author. Present address: Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine (MBC 46), King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, P.O. Box 3354, Riyadh 11211, Saudi Arabia. Phone: (966) 1-442-7494. Fax: (966) 1-442-7499. E-mail: abdely{at}kfshrc.edu.sa.


Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, December 1999, p. 2910-2914, Vol. 43, No. 12
0066-4804/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Murray, H. W. (2001). Clinical and Experimental Advances in Treatment of Visceral Leishmaniasis. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 45: 2185-2197 [Full Text]