Drug discovery against acanthamoeba infections: Present knowledge and unmet needs

Abstract

Although major strides have been made in developing and testing various antiacanthamoebic drugs, recurrent infections, inadequate treatment outcomes, health complications, and side effects associated with the use of currently available drugs necessitate the development of more effective and safe therapeutic regimens. For any new anti-acanthamoebic drugs to be more effective, they must have either superior potency and safety or at least comparable potency and an improved safety profile compared to the existing drugs. The development of the so-called ‘nextgeneration’ anti-acanthamoebic agents to address this challenge is an active area of research. Here, we review the current status of anti-acanthamoebic drugs and discuss recent progress in identifying novel pharmacological targets and new approaches, such as drug repurposing, development of small interfering RNA (siRNA)-based therapies and testing natural products and their derivatives. Some of the discussed approaches have the potential to change the therapeutic landscape of Acanthamoeba infections.