Marine Natural Products with Antiprotozoal Activity

A special issue of Marine Drugs (ISSN 1660-3397).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 December 2019) | Viewed by 12553

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Instituto de Productos Naturales y Agrobiología (IPNA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Avenida Astrofísico Francisco Sánchez 3, 38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
Interests: marine natural products; marine microbial compounds; bioassay-guided isolation; NMR structural analysis; biomedical applications
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Guest Editor
Departamento de Obstetricia, Ginecología, Pediatría, Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública, Toxicología, Medicina Legal y Forense y Parasitología, Universidad de La Laguna (ULL), Avda. Astrofísico F. Sánchez, 2, 38206 La Laguna, Spain
Interests: free living Amoebae; therapeutics; emerging parasitic protozoa; diagnosis; natural compounds; synthetic compounds
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Infections caused by protozoan parasites are responsible for a large number of severe and widespread diseases which include malaria, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease or human African trypanosomiasis, among others. They mostly affect rural and poor urban areas of tropical and subtropical regions causing a considerable morbidity and mortality worldwide. Current drug treatments are ineffective due to drug resistance and toxicity in addition to their high cost and prolonged treatments. The search for new lead compounds with novel mechanisms of action for development of more effective treatments with fewer side effects represents a crucial challenge.

The marine environment is plenty of microorganisms, algae and marine invertebrates which are a rich potential source of novel molecules with high structural diversity and “drug-like” properties. Accordingly, the aim of this Marine Drugs Special Issue is to cover new findings on bioactive molecules from marine natural sources or natural product-inspired compounds produced by synthesis with properties against protozoan parasites, highlighting novel structural features, bioactivities and mechanisms of action. Review articles in the field will also be considered.

As Guest Editors of this Special Issue of Marine Drugs, We encourage scientists working in any field involving marine natural products with antiprotozoal activities to submit recent research that may lead to significant advances.

Dr. Ana R. Diaz-Marrero
Dr. Jacob Lorenzo-Morales
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Marine Drugs is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Natural product
  • Antiprotozoal activity
  • Trypanosoma
  • Leishmania
  • Amoeba
  • Plasmodium
  • Protozoa
  • Synthesis

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 3463 KiB  
Article
Antiamoebic Activities of Indolocarbazole Metabolites Isolated from Streptomyces sanyensis Cultures
by Luis Cartuche, María Reyes-Batlle, Ines Sifaoui, Iñigo Arberas-Jiménez, José E. Piñero, José J. Fernández, Jacob Lorenzo-Morales and Ana R. Díaz-Marrero
Mar. Drugs 2019, 17(10), 588; https://doi.org/10.3390/md17100588 - 17 Oct 2019
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3435
Abstract
Indolocarbazoles are a family of natural alkaloids characterized by their potent protein kinase and topoisomerase I inhibitory activity. Among them, staurosporine (1) has exhibited promising inhibitory activity against parasites. Based on new insights on the activity and mechanism of action of [...] Read more.
Indolocarbazoles are a family of natural alkaloids characterized by their potent protein kinase and topoisomerase I inhibitory activity. Among them, staurosporine (1) has exhibited promising inhibitory activity against parasites. Based on new insights on the activity and mechanism of action of STS in Acanthamoeba parasites, this work reports the isolation, identification, and the anti-Acanthamoeba activity of the minor metabolites 7-oxostaurosporine (2), 4′-demethylamino-4′-oxostaurosporine (3), and streptocarbazole B (4), isolated from cultures of the mangrove strain Streptomyces sanyensis. A clear correlation between the antiparasitic activities and the structural elements and conformations of the indolocarbazoles 14 was observed. Also, the study reveals that 7-oxostaurosporine (2) affects membrane permeability and causes mitochondrial damages on trophozoites of A. castellanii Neff. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Natural Products with Antiprotozoal Activity)
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15 pages, 3625 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Oxasqualenoids from the Red Alga Laurencia viridis against Acanthamoeba
by Jacob Lorenzo-Morales, Ana R. Díaz-Marrero, Francisco Cen-Pacheco, Ines Sifaoui, María Reyes-Batlle, María L. Souto, Antonio Hernández Daranas, José E. Piñero and José J. Fernández
Mar. Drugs 2019, 17(7), 420; https://doi.org/10.3390/md17070420 - 19 Jul 2019
Cited by 27 | Viewed by 4263
Abstract
Acanthamoeba genus is a widely distributed and opportunistic parasite with increasing importance worldwide as an emerging pathogen in the past decades. This protozoan has an active trophozoite stage, a cyst stage, and is dormant and very resistant. It can cause Acanthamoeba keratitis, an [...] Read more.
Acanthamoeba genus is a widely distributed and opportunistic parasite with increasing importance worldwide as an emerging pathogen in the past decades. This protozoan has an active trophozoite stage, a cyst stage, and is dormant and very resistant. It can cause Acanthamoeba keratitis, an ocular sight-threatening disease, and granulomatous amoebic encephalitis, a chronic, very fatal brain pathology. In this study, the amoebicidal activity of sixteen Laurencia oxasqualenoid metabolites and semisynthetic derivatives were tested against Acanthamoeba castellanii Neff. The results obtained point out that iubol (3) and dehydrothyrsiferol (1) possess potent activities, with IC50 values of 5.30 and 12.83 µM, respectively. The hydroxylated congeners thyrsiferol (2) and 22-hydroxydehydrothyrsiferol (4), active in the same value range at IC50 13.97 and 17.00 µM, are not toxic against murine macrophages; thus, they are solid candidates for the development of new amoebicidal therapies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Natural Products with Antiprotozoal Activity)
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11 pages, 1790 KiB  
Article
Spiralyde A, an Antikinetoplastid Dolabellane from the Brown Alga Dictyota spiralis
by Olfa Chiboub, Ines Sifaoui, Jacob Lorenzo-Morales, Manef Abderrabba, Mondher Mejri, José Javier Fernández, José E. Piñero and Ana R. Díaz-Marrero
Mar. Drugs 2019, 17(3), 192; https://doi.org/10.3390/md17030192 - 25 Mar 2019
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 3742
Abstract
Bioassay-guided fractionation of the antikinetoplastid extract of the brown alga Dictyota spiralis has led to the isolation of spiralyde A (1), a new dolabellane aldehyde, along with other five known related diterpenes (26). Their structures were determined [...] Read more.
Bioassay-guided fractionation of the antikinetoplastid extract of the brown alga Dictyota spiralis has led to the isolation of spiralyde A (1), a new dolabellane aldehyde, along with other five known related diterpenes (26). Their structures were determined by HRESIMS, 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy, and comparison with data reported in the literature. The antiparasitic activity of all compounds was evaluated. Spiralyde A (1) and the known compound 3,4-epoxy-7,18-dolabelladiene (2) were the most active compounds against Leishmania amazonensis and Trypanosoma cruzi. Spiralyde A (1) was the most potent compound, comparable to benznidazole, the reference drug for trypanocidal activity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Natural Products with Antiprotozoal Activity)
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