ArticleAntimicrobial agents and chemotherapy2015
Probing the molecular mechanism of hypericin-induced parasite death provides insight into the role of spermidine beyond redox metabolism in Leishmania donovani.
Article in Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 42 citations in OpenAlex.
- 7-Prenyloxycoumarins as Promising Antileishmanial Agents: In Vitro, In Vivo, and In Silico Evaluation AgainstPharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Molecular docking and simulation analysis of selected herbal compounds against GP63, FPPS, and NMT, three importantResearch in pharmaceutical sciences · 2025Article
- Defence Warriors: Exploring the crosstalk between polyamines and oxidative stress during microbial pathogenesis.Redox biology · 2025Review
- Hypericin Suppresses SARS-CoV-2 Replication and Synergizes with Antivirals via Dual Targeting of RdRp and 3CLpro.Microorganisms · 2025Article
- Article
- The Potential Use of Peptides in the Fight against Chagas Disease and Leishmaniasis.Pharmaceutics · 2024Review
- Dual-target drugs against Leishmania donovani for potential novel therapeutics.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Recent Advances in Chemotherapeutics for Leishmaniasis: Importance of the Cellular Biochemistry of the Parasite and Its Molecular Interaction with the Host.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Article
- Polyamine Metabolism inMedical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Photodynamic Therapy Using Toluidine Blue O (TBO) Dye as a Photosensitizer againstIranian journal of public health · 2021Article
- Molecular Basis of the Leishmanicidal Activity of the Antidepressant Sertraline as a Drug Repurposing Candidate.Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2018Article
- Methionine aminopeptidase 2 is a key regulator of apoptotic like cell death in Leishmania donovani.Scientific reports · 2017Article
- Article
- Development of a novel formulation with hypericin to treat cutaneous leishmaniasis based on photodynamic therapy in in vitro and in vivo studies.Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Hypericin, a natural compound from Hypericum perforatum (St. John's wort), has been identified as a specific inhibitor of Leishmania donovani spermidine synthase (LdSS) using integrated computational and biochemical approaches. Hypericin showed in vitro inhibition of recombinant LdSS enzyme activity. The in vivo estimation of spermidine levels in Leishmania promastigotes after hypericin treatment showed significant decreases in the spermidine pools of the parasites, indicating target specificity of the inhibitor molecule. The inhibitor, hypericin, showed significant antileishmanial activity, and the mode of death showed necrosis-like features. Further, decreased trypanothione levels and increased glutathione levels with elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels were observed after hypericin treatment. Supplementation with trypanothione in the medium with hypericin treatment restored in vivo trypanothione levels and ROS levels but could not prevent necrosis-like death of the parasites. However, supplementation with spermidine in the medium with hypericin treatment restored in vivo spermidine levels and parasite death was prevented to a large extent. The data overall suggest that the parasite death due to spermidine starvation as a result of LdSS inhibition is not related to elevated levels of reactive oxygen species. This suggests the involvement of spermidine in processes other than redox metabolism in Leishmania parasites. Moreover, the work provides a novel scaffold, i.e., hypericin, as a potent antileishmanial molecule.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.