Nanotechnology as an alternative to improve the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis: A systematic review of the literature

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a neglected infectious disease caused by the Leishmania spp parasite and transmitted through the bite of sandflies. Humans are infected by the promastigote form and when the parasites are internalized in macrophages, they differentiate into the amastigote form. Current treatments are increasingly insufficient, as they have high toxicity, high cost, are administered parenterally and there are already reports of resistant parasites. The applicability of nanotechnology involves the encapsulation of antileishmanial drugs in nanocarriers that have advantages over the free drug, such as reducing adverse effects and potentiating treatment. This present work addresses a systematic review of the literature from January 2011 to January 2022, in Pubmed and Web of Science databases, using the keywords “leishmaniasis and nanotechnology and in vivo”, in order to select articles with in vivo antileishmanial efficacy studies for the treatment of CL using nanotechnology. Several articles were promising with positive results, proving the in vivo efficacy of the nanoencapsulated drug against parasites. The most used nanocarriers were nanoparticles. Regarding leishmanicidal drugs, Amphotericin B and Miltefosine stand out. Nanotechnology also promotes the use of photodynamic therapy in CL and current studies demonstrate the trend of co-encapsulation of drugs in nanocarriers in order to optimize the leishmanicidal effect and prevent parasite resistance. [Display omitted]