Promising antileishmanial effectiveness of doxorubicin and Doxil against Leishmania major: An in vitro assay

Objective To evaluate the effect of doxorubicin and its pegylated liposomal formulation (Doxil, Caelyx) on in vitro susceptibility of promastigote and amastigote stages of Leishmania major . Methods Throughout in vitro assays the IC 50 was calculated in the promastigotes and amastigotes forms in J774 macrophage cell line. Also as cytotoxicity in J774 cell line macrophages. Results Doxorubicin and Doxil showed the same activity against promastigote form with IC 50 values of 10.49 μg/mL and 9.63 μg/mL, respectively. Similarly, the amastigote stage was susceptible at concentration of at least 1 μg/mL when compared to positive control ( P 50 concentrations. Conclusions Our findings demonstrated the efficacy of both doxorubicin and its pegylated liposomal formulation on L. major at low concentrations. Further researches are needed for evaluating the safety of drugs in animal model particularly as topical formulation.