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Journal of Infectious Diseases and Therapy ISSN: 2332-0877 | Volume: 6
Infectious Diseases
4
th
Annual Congress on
Neglected Tropical & Infectious Diseases
5
th
International Conference on
August 29-30, 2018 | Boston, USA
&
Drug delivery by tattooing to treat cutaneous leishmaniasis
L
eishmaniasis is a vector-borne disease that is caused by obligate intra-macrophage protozoa of the Leishmania species.
Leishmaniasis can cause different clinical syndromes, including cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL), in which the patient generally
presents with one or several ulcers (s) or nodule(s) on the skin, resulting from the infection of phagocytic cells located in the
dermis. It often results in severe scar tissue in the skin. Most of the twelve million people infected with Leishmania worldwide
are CL cases, a 1.5 million new cases occur annually.
Objective:
WHO has a program to develop new treatments for cutaneous leishmaniasis. This study establishes a proof-of-
concept that a tattoo device can target intra-dermal drug delivery against cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL).
Methods:
The selected drug is oleylphosphocholine (OLPC) formulated as liposomes, particles known to be prone to
macrophage ingestion. First is shown that treatment of cultured Leishmania-infected macrophages with OLPC-liposomes
results in a direct dose-dependent killing of intracellular parasites. Based on this,
in vivo
efficacy is demonstrated using a 10-
day tattooing-mediated treatment in mice infected with
L major
and
L Mexicana
. In both models, this regimen results in rapid
clinical recovery with complete regression of skin lesions by Day 28. Parasite counts and histopathology examination confirm
high treatment efficacy at the parasitic level. Low amount of drug required for tattooing combined with fast clinical recovery
may have a positive impact on CL patient management.
Results:
This first example of tattoo-mediated drug delivery could open to new therapeutic interventions in the treatment of skin
diseases. This study demonstrates that the use of a tattoo instrument for drug delivery is possible in the treatment of cutaneous
leishmaniasis and that this method can successfully eliminate intracellular parasites at the site of infection. After showing that
the selected drug oleylphosphocholine (OLPC) formulated as liposomes could efficiently reach intracellular parasites when in
contact with infected macrophages, the activity of the drug was compared
in vivo
in mouse models of Old (
L major
) and New
World (
L Mexicana
) leishmaniasis. Three routes of administrations of the same drug formulation were investigated: systemic
(IP) administration, topical administration as a drop, and administration via the tattooing instrument. Evaluation parameters
included clinical (lesion sizes) and parasitological parameters (burdens) using quantitative and qualitative methods. In all
experiments, the tattooing delivery procedure was the most efficacious at both the clinical and parasitological levels.
Biography
Dr. Stef Stienstra works internationally for several medical and biotech companies as the scientific advisory board member and is also an active reserve-officer
of the Royal Dutch Navy in his rank as Commander (OF4). For the Dutch Armed Forces, he is CBRN specialist with the focus on (micro)biological and chemical
threats and medical- and environmental functional specialist within the 1st CMI (Civil-Military Interaction) Battalion of the Dutch Armed Forces. For Expertise France
he is now managing an EU CBRN CoE public health project in West Africa. He is visiting professor for the University of Rome Tor Vergata in Italy for the CBRN
Masters Course and lecturer for the NATO School in Oberammergau in Germany and the Joint NATO CBRN-Defense Center of Excellence in Vyskov in the Czech
Republic. In his civilian position, he is at this moment developing with MT-Derm in Berlin (Germany) a novel intradermal vaccination technology as well as a new
therapy for cutaneous leishmaniasis for which he has won a Canadian ‘Grand Challenge’ grant. With Hemanua in Dublin (Ireland) he has developed an innovative
blood separation unit, which is also suitable to produce convalescent plasma for Ebola Virus Disease therapy. He has finished both his studies in Medicine and
in Biochemistry in The Netherlands with a doctorate and has extensive practical experience in cell biology, immuno-hematology, infectious diseases, biodefense,
and transfusion medicine. His natural business acumen and negotiation competence help to initiate new successful businesses, often generated by unexpected
combinations of technologies.
Stef.Stienstra@inter.nl.netStef Stienstra
Royal Dutch Navy, The Netherlands
Stef Stienstra, J Infect Dis Ther 2018, Volume 6
DOI: 10.4172/2332-0877-C3-043