Atovaquone, chloroquine, primaquine, quinine and tetracycline: antiproliferative effects of relevant antimalarials on Neospora caninum

Abstract Neospora caninum is an apicomplexan parasite that causes abortion in cattle, resulting in significant economic losses. There is no commercial treatment for neosporosis, and drug repositioning is a fast strategy to test possible candidates against N. caninum. In this article, we describe the effects of atovaquone, chloroquine, quinine, primaquine and tetracycline on N. caninum proliferation. The IC50 concentrations in N. caninum were compared to the current information based on previous studies for Plasmodium and Toxoplasma gondii, correlating to the described mechanisms of action of each tested drug. The inhibitory patterns indicate similarities and differences among N. caninum, Plasmodium and T. gondii. For example, atovaquone demonstrates high antiparasitic activity in all the analyzed models, while chloroquine does not inhibit N. caninum. On the other hand, tetracycline is effective against Plasmodium and N. caninum, despite its low activity in T. gondii models. The repurposing of antimalarial drugs in N. caninum is a fast and inexpensive way to develop novel formulations using well-established compounds.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Pereira,Luiz Miguel, de Luca,Gabriela, Abichabki,Nathália de Lima Martins, Brochi,Jade Cabestre Venancio, Baroni,Luciana, Abreu-Filho,Péricles Gama, Yatsuda,Ana Patrícia
Format:	Digital revista
Language:	English
Published:	Colégio Brasileiro de Parasitologia Veterinária 2021
Online Access:	http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1984-29612021000100312
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