Potential application of nanotechnology in the treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of schistosomiasis

04 Feb.,2024

 

Abstract

Schistosomiasis is one of the neglected tropical diseases that affect millions of people worldwide. Globally, it affects economically poor countries, typically due to a lack of proper sanitation systems, and poor hygiene conditions. Currently, no vaccine is available against schistosomiasis, and the preferred treatment is chemotherapy with the use of praziquantel. It is a common anti-schistosomal drug used against all known species of Schistosoma. To date, current treatment primarily the drug praziquantel has not been effective in treating Schistosoma species in their early stages. The drug of choice offers low bioavailability, water solubility, and fast metabolism. Globally drug resistance has been documented due to overuse of praziquantel, Parasite mutations, poor treatment compliance, co-infection with other strains of parasites, and overall parasitic load. The existing diagnostic methods have very little acceptability and are not readily applied for quick diagnosis. This review aims to summarize the use of nanotechnology in the treatment, diagnosis, and prevention. It also explored safe and effective substitute approaches against parasitosis. At this stage, various nanomaterials are being used in drug delivery systems, diagnostic kits, and vaccine production. Nanotechnology is one of the modern and innovative methods to treat and diagnose several human diseases, particularly those caused by parasite infections. Herein we highlight the current advancement and application of nanotechnological approaches regarding the treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of schistosomiasis.

Keywords:

schistosomiasis, praziquantel, nanotechnology, drug delivery system, liposome, nanoparticles, diagnosis

Future prospective

This review comprehensively documented the application of nanoparticles in schistosomiasis treatment, prevention, and diagnosis. Despite various treatments, option schistosomiasis is frequently seen in endemic as well as non-endemic areas. Further, the basic hurdle in schistosomiasis treatment is the low bioavailability of anti-schistosomal materials, the resistance of parasites due to misuse of drugs, and improper diagnosis. Researchers are working on the understanding treatment, diagnosis, prevention, and control of schistosomiasis. Unluckily there has not been any promising approach toward anti-schistosomal therapy. The involvement of scientists would confidently tackle the improvement of the treatment plans for this deliberating disease. Nanomedicine is an important application of nanotechnology for medical science for the last 20 years, which has grown as one of the most favorable techniques for the precision of conservative chemotherapies and diagnosis. The drug delivery system has the capability of administration of a low dose of drug and target-specific activity could be achieved by using nanotechnology. However, the fabrication and manipulation of nanomaterials in a repeatable and cost-effective way are still in their early stages. But it is expected that the application of NMs in schistosomiasis therapy will improve the current methods used in the detection, treatment, and control. The challenges involved in anti-schistosomal chemotherapy will be minimized by nanomedicine. The use of nanotechnology will increase bioavailability, decrease the quantity, toxicity, and side effects, and surge patient compliance. Hopefully, nanomedicine will deliver fairly improved and economical anti-schistosomal treatment practices than conventional chemotherapy, and probably will decrease the fiscal load of this tropical neglected disease. Therefore, nanotechnology approaches will encompass a wide range of solutions over conventional approaches in the upcoming days, for fast diagnosis, control, and prevention of this tropical neglected disease. It will be critical to discuss alternative ways to improve existing nanomedicine or nanotechnology approaches to improve schistosomiasis diagnosis and treatment.

Conclusion

Schistosomiasis continues to increase globally in tropical regions. It upsets the world’s deprived countries where there is a lack of basic facilities like safe water, sanitation, and other hygiene environmental conditions. The increasing shortcomings in the use of PZQ and other commonly used diagnostic methods have paved toward the use of potential alternative drug therapies. In this analysis, we have focused on the current application of nanomaterials used in biomedicine. Because of their distinct properties, nanomaterials have attracted a great deal of attention, and they have been utilized in the improvement of diagnostic techniques, therapeutic targets, and schistosomiasis prevention and vaccine. NPs are novel drug delivery systems for PZQ, which is a powerful anti-schistosomal medication that may be employed against different stages of Schistosoma. Silver, gold, selenium, silica, liposome, etc. are considered potential nanomaterials used for the treatment, and as vaccine candidates against schistosomiasis. Nanoparticles are easy to develop, have low toxicity, improve drug bioavailability by solubility modification, and improve drug absorption across the biological barrier. Nanotechnology also improves the sensitivity and efficacy of diagnostic kits. Therefore, the combination of these nanomaterial products may change the existing situation of therapeutics, control, and medical diagnosis.

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to the Innovation of practices for the establishment of mixed cultures of alfalfa to improve soil quality and produce safe forage (TH04030258) for financial assistance for this article. Also thankful to King Fahd University of Petroleum and Mineral Resources for financial support under project No. DF191016.

Author contributions

AQ, HU, MS, and SA: write and formatted draft, SS: did visualization, AR, TS, PS, and PH did validation, review and editing.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Glossary

AChE
Acetylcholinesterase
AgNPs
Silver nanoparticles
AuNPs
Gold nanoparticles
BN
Boron nitride
BNNSs
Boron nitride nano spheres
Cur-GNPs
Curcumin loaded gold nanocapsules
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid
CTAB
Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide
DDS
Drug delivery system
ED95
Effective dose 95
ENMs
Engineered nanomaterial’s
GICA
Colloidal gold immunochromatography assay
Lip.PZQ
Liposomal-Praziquantel
LNCs
Lipid nanocapsules
LOXA
Liposomes entrapped oxamniquine
nAChR
Nicotinic type of acetylcholine receptor
NMs
Nanomaterials
NPs
Nanoparticles
M-PZQ
Market praziquantel
MFS-LNC
Miltefosine lipid nanocapusles
MSNs
Mesoporous silica nanoparticles
PZQ
Praziquantel
PZQ-Si
Praziquantel-mesoporous silica
PZQ-NLC2
Praziquantel-Nanostructured lipid carriers 2
PZQ-NLC4
Praziquantel- Nanostructured lipid carriers
ROS
Reactive oxygen species
S
Schistosoma
Se-NPs
Selenium-nanoparticles
SGTP1
Schistosome glucose transporter 1
SGTP4
Schistosome glucose transporter 4
SLNs
Solid nanoparticles
SLN-PZQ
Solid nanoparticles praziquantel
SWAP
Soluble worm antigenic preparation
VL
Visceral leishmaniasis
WHO
World health organization
ZnO-NPs
Zinc oxide nanoparticles

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