Parasites of the genus Leishmania are the causative agents of leishmaniasis, a neglected
tropical disease endemic in many developing countries as well as in the Mediterranean area.
Current treatments are inefficient, associated with high toxicity, severe side effects and most
importantly, the high costs associated to the treatment are far from suitable for developing
countries. In this sense, there is an urgent need to find new drugs and a new drug delivery
system to treat leishmaniasis. Several studies have shown that antimicrobial peptides
(AMPs), components of our immune system, are able to help the organism resist to the
invasion of some pathogens, including Leishmania, by having a direct antimicrobial function
as well as a capacity for immunomodulation. Their specificity to microorganisms and the low
probability to develop resistance, make them very good candidates for the development of a
new drug formulation. Our proposal during this project is to increase the solubility and
bioavailability of selected AMPs, described in the literature as having an active effect against
Leishmania. We showed that hyaluronic acid (HA) derivative nanogel has an ability to entrap
hydrophobic peptides. HA is naturally present in vertebrate organisms and its viscoelastic
properties, biodegradability, biocompatibility and absence of immunogenicity, make it suitable
for pharmaceutical and medical applications
