Active clinical trials for "Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous"

The purpose of this project is to investigate the efficacy of early, empiric anti-helminthic therapy combined with standard pentavalent antimony in the treatment of subjects co-infected with helminths and cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by L. brasiliensis. The study hypothesis is that early intervention with antihelminthic therapy will improve response rates to antimony in subjects with cutaneous leishmaniasis.

This study will test whether addition of imiquimod to standard antimony therapy provides a significant benefit in subjects with newly diagnosed cutaneous leishmaniasis. Based on our previous results, we hypothesize that lesions in patients who receive the combined treatment of pentavalent antimony and imiquimod as a first line therapy will resolve more rapidly and produce less scarring than treatment with pentavalent antimony alone.

While vaccination against cutaneous leishmaniasis, a chronic ulcerating protozoan infection of the skin, has been possible for decades using live parasites, the production and storage of live cultures are difficult. Since inoculation occasionally leads to severe infection, most experts now advocate against their use. We have shown excellent protection using a "heat-killed" vaccine that combines autoclaved leishmania antigen with recombinant human interleukin-12 (rhIL-12) and aluminum hydroxide gel as adjuvants in a rhesus macaque model of disease. To assess the safety and immunogenicity of this vaccine in humans, we now propose a rhIL-12 dose escalation Phase I/II trial.

Miltefosine is the only oral treatment currently available for Cutaneous Leishmaniasis. Despite several reports of good efficiency in other countries of South America, miltefosine remains limited to a compassionate use in France. The objective of this study is to collect data regarding the efficacy, safety and acceptability of miltefosine in patients treated in French Guiana since 2017.

The objectives of the study are to evaluate the safety and efficacy of open label treatment with WR 279,396 (topical paromomycin & gentamicin) in patients with non-complicated, non-severe cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL).

This is a study to assess the safety of a new candidate Leishmania vaccine ChAd63-KH in patients with persistent post kala azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL). This is a Phase II trial in patients with PKDL, to assess the safety and compare the humoral and cellular immune responses generated by the candidate vaccine in patients, and observe any clinical changes in the disease over a 42 day period following vaccination. Study design: Eight adult volunteers will receive 1x10(10)vp and the subsequent eight volunteers will receive 7.5 x10(10)vp. Adolescents will be vaccinated with either 1x10(10)vp or 7.5 x10(10)vp, to be determined by evaluation of all available data after DSMB & CTSC review.

This trial is designed to assess the therapeutic efficacy and safety of CHAd63-KH, a new candidate Leishmania vaccine, in patients with persistent PKDL. 100 participants will be randomly assigned (50 participants in each arm) to receive placebo or ChAd63-KH 7.5 x10(10)vp. Doses will be administered at a single time point.

Infections due to protozoa of the genus Leishmania are a major worldwide skin problem, with high endemicity in developing countries including Pakistan. As far as concern for the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL), there is no single therapeutic agent that has proved a satisfactory efficacy and safety. Therefore, the objective of this research study was to develop an alternative therapeutic approach for the treatment of CL. In the current research protocol, two herbal topical formulations (Gyburene and Thuscare) were prepared containing to contain 5% Casuarina equisetifolia L. and Thespesia populnea L. plant extract and evaluate their leishmanicidal potential in pre-clinical and randomized clinical trials studies. Preclinical studies were performed on BALB/c mice after the development of a lesion on the dermis caused by the Leishmania (L.) major parasite. Six weeks randomized, single single-blind placebo controlled study was also conducted on seventy eight L. major infected patients divided into three groups i.e. treated, reference and placebo with the 1:1 ratios.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is endemic in the New World from approximately the US-Mexican border through Central America and the Northern part of South America down to the level of Rio de Janeiro. Until recently, the standard treatment for the leishmaniases was pentavalent antimony (Glucantime or Pentostam). The cure rate for L panamensis in Colombia is 91%-93% [Soto, 1993; Velez, 1997], a large study with several formulations of antimony found a combined Bolivia-Colombia cure rate of 86% [Soto, 2004b], and in work just completed, the cure rate in Palos Blancos, Bolivia is 15 of 16 = 94% [ Soto, manuscript in preparation]. Nevertheless, pentavalent antimonials have the disadvantages of multiple injections and mild-moderate clinical toxicity [gastrointestinal complaints, liver enzyme elevations, pancreatic enzyme elevations], all of which are particularly unpleasant for a moderate clinical problem such as cutaneous leishmaniasis. The oral agent Miltefosine has now been shown to be as effective as antimony in Colombia and Bolivia. In Colombia, the cure rate for miltefosine was 91% [Soto 2004a] and in the just-completed trial in Palos Blancos, the cure rate for miltefosine was 32 of 37 = 88 % . Side effects seen in patients with cutaneous disease that can be specifically attributed to the drug are nausea and vomiting of mild grade in approximately 25% of patients, and low-grade elevation of creatinine also in approximately 25% of patients [Soto 2001; Soto 2004]. The 6-month cure rate did not reach 100%, and miltefosine was relatively slow to cure compared to Sb. 31 of 44 evaluable miltefosine patients (70%) were cured by 1 month after therapy, compared to 16 of 16 evaluable Glucantime patients (100%). Imiquimod (Aldara; 3M Pharmaceuticals) is a novel immune response-activating compound, approved by the FDA for cervical warts, that activates macrophage killing of Leishmania species. Combined imiquimod plus Glucantime was used as rescue treatment in 12 patients with Peruvian cutaneous leishmaniasis who had previously not responded to Glucantime alone. 90% of patients were cured at the 6-month follow-up period [Arevalo, 2001]. In a follow up study [Miranda-Verastegui et al, 2005], naïve patients were randomized between the combination of Sb plus imiquimod (18 patients) vs Sb plus placebo (20 patients). The cure rate at 1 month after therapy was 50% in the imiquimod +Sb group compared to 15% in the placebo+Sb group (p = 0.02). By 12 months after therapy, the Sb+placebo group had caught up, and the cure rate was 72%-75% in each group. Local side effects were evaluated. Edema, itching, burning, pain were equal in the two groups. There was more erythema in the imiquimod grup (55% of patients) compared to the placebo group (25% of patients). The Imiquimod studies in neighboring Peru suggest that combination with this immunomodulator is capable of decreasing the time to cure, and potentially increasing the cure rate, in Andean cutaneous leishmaniasis. The present study will evaluate the combination of oral miltefosine plus topical imiquimod for cutaneous leishmaniasis in Bolivia. If in the first group of patients, cure rate at 1 month after therapy is appreciably above the 70% historic value for miltefosine alone and the cure rate at 6 months is greater than the 88% historic value for miltefosine alone, subsequent patients will be randomized between miltefosine+imiquimod and miltefosine+placebo cream.

Intralesional injection of antimony has been used for L major from Iran with a modest cure rate [56%: Asilian 2004]. However, this therapeutic approach has been used for L braziliensis from Brazil, with an attractive cure rate after 3 months of 80% [Oliveira-Neto 1997]. Because intralesional Sb injections is the local therapy with the best reported cure rate for South American L braziliensis disease, the species that causes disease in Bolivia, this pilot study of local therapy for bolivian L braziliensis disease will evaluate intralesional Sb therapy.