Potential New Treatment for Cutaneous Leishmaniasis: Oleylphosphocholine

This research focuses on a disease called Cutaneous Leishmaniasis, a tropical disease that causes a range of skin lesions.

The researchers are exploring a new potential treatment for this disease using a compound called Oleylphosphocholine (OLPC). OLPC is similar to miltefosine, a drug currently used to treat a different form of Leishmaniasis.

Industry application

This research is relevant to the pharmaceutical industry, particularly those involved in the development of treatments for tropical diseases. 

The researchers found that OLPC demonstrated potent activity against a range of Leishmaniasis-causing species in laboratory tests.

When tested in mice, OLPC was able to reduce the parasite load in the skin to a similar extent as the current treatment, paromomycin. However, reducing the dose of OLPC or modifying its release profile led to a decrease in activity. 

Van Bocxlaer K, Dixon J, Platteeuw JJ, van den Heuvel D, Mcarthur KN, Harris A, et al. Efficacy of oleylphosphocholine in experimental cutaneous leishmaniasis. J Antimicrob Chemoth. 2023. DOI: 10.1093/jac/dkad162