New strategies in the treatment of diseases caused by Acanthamoeba based on nanoparticles: a systematic review

Pegah Shakib; Hamed Kalani; Muhammad Tahir Aleem; Roghiyeh Faridnia; Mustafa Zebardast Pour; Kobra Moradpour; Kourosh Cheraghipour

doi:10.2174/2772432818666221111155119

New strategies in the treatment of diseases caused by Acanthamoeba based on nanoparticles: a systematic review

Curr Rev Clin Exp Pharmacol. 2022 Nov 11. doi: 10.2174/2772432818666221111155119. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Pegah Shakib¹, Hamed Kalani², Muhammad Tahir Aleem³, Roghiyeh Faridnia⁴, Mustafa Zebardast Pour⁵, Kobra Moradpour¹, Kourosh Cheraghipour¹

Affiliations

¹ Razi Herbal Medicines Research Center, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran.
² Infectious Diseases Research Center, Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Gorgan, Iran.
³ MOE Joint International Research Laboratory of Animal Health and Food Safety, College of Veterinary Medicine, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
⁴ Laboratory Sciences Research Center, Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Gorgan, Iran.
⁵ Lorestan Provincial Veterinary Service, Khorramabad, Iran.

PMID: 36372923
DOI: 10.2174/2772432818666221111155119

Abstract

Background: Acanthamoeba is one of the opportunistic parasites with a global prevalence. Currently, due to the side effects and the emergence of drug resistance to this parasite, much research has been performed on the use of nano-drugs to treat Acanthamoeba-caused diseases. Therefore, this systematic review study aims to evaluate new strategies for treating diseases caused by Acanthamoeba based on nanoparticles (NPs).

Methods: We designed a systematic review based on the articles published in English between 2000 and 2022. Our search strategy was based on syntax and specific tags for each database, including ScienceDirect, PubMed, Scopus, Ovid, and Cochrane. From the articles, those that had inclusion criteria were selected, and their data were extracted and analyzed.

Results: In this study, 26 studies were selected. Metallic nanoparticles were mostly used against the Acanthamoeba species (80.7%). 19.2% of the studies used polymeric nanoparticles, and 3.8% used emulsion nanoparticles. Most studies (96.1%) were performed in vitro, and only one study (3.8%) was carried out in vivo. Silver NPs were the most used metallic nanoparticles in the studies. The best effect of the anti-Acanthamoeba compound was observed for green synthesized nanoparticles based on stabilization by plant gums, loaded with citrus fruits flavonoids hesperidin (HDN) and naringin (NRG) with a 100% growth inhibition at a concentration of 50 μg/mL.

Conclusion: This study showed that chlorhexidine and other plant metabolites loaded with silver and gold nanoparticles increase the anti-Acanthambae activity of these nanoparticles. However, green synthesized nanoparticles based on stabilization by plant gums, loaded with citrus fruits flavonoids hesperidin (HDN) and naringin (NRG), showed the best anti-Acanthambae effect. Nevertheless, further studies should be performed to determine their safety for human use.

Keywords: Acanthamoeba; In vitro; In vivo; Nanoparticles; Review; Systematic.