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Review
. 2024;31(15):1955-1982.
doi: 10.2174/0929867331666230915093928.

State-of-the-art Review on the Antiparasitic Activity of Benzimidazolebased Derivatives: Facing Malaria, Leishmaniasis, and Trypanosomiasis

Valeria Francesconi  1 , Marco Rizzo  1 , Silvia Schenone  1 , Anna Carbone  1 , Michele Tonelli  1
Affiliations
Review

State-of-the-art Review on the Antiparasitic Activity of Benzimidazolebased Derivatives: Facing Malaria, Leishmaniasis, and Trypanosomiasis

Valeria Francesconi et al. Curr Med Chem. 2024.

Abstract

Protozoan parasites represent a significant risk for public health worldwide, afflicting particularly people in more vulnerable categories and cause large morbidity and heavy economic impact. Traditional drugs are limited by their toxicity, low efficacy, route of administration, and cost, reflecting their low priority in global health management. Moreover, the drug resistance phenomenon threatens the positive therapy outcome. This scenario claims the need of addressing more adequate therapies. Among the diverse strategies implemented, the medicinal chemistry efforts have also focused their attention on the benzimidazole nucleus as a promising pharmacophore for the generation of new drug candidates. Hence, the present review provides a global insight into recent progress in benzimidazole-based derivatives drug discovery against important protozoan diseases, such as malaria, leishmaniasis and trypanosomiasis. The more relevant chemical features and structure-activity relationship studies of these molecules are discussed for the purpose of paving the way towards the development of more viable drugs for the treatment of these parasitic infections.

Keywords: Protozoan infections; antileishmanial compounds; antimalarial compounds; antiprotozoal agents; antitrypanosomal compounds.; benzimidazole-based derivatives.

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Conflict of interest statement

Dr. Anna Carbone and Dr. Michele Tonelli are on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal Current Medicinal Chemistry.

Figures

Fig. (1)
Fig. (1)
Promising drug targets in malaria, leishmaniasis and trypanosomiasis.
Fig. (2)
Fig. (2)
Structures of benzimidazoles 9-14 endowed with anti-leishmanial activity.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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