Cinnamic acids derived compounds with antileishmanial activity target <i>Leishmania amazonensis</i> arginase

Abstract

This study describes the activity of five natural hydroxycinnamic acids and derived compound: caffeic (1), rosmarinic (2), chlorogenic (3), and cryptochlorogenic (4), acids and isoverbascoside (5). All compounds inhibited Leishmania amazonensis arginase with IC₅₀ -in range of 1.5-11 μM. Compounds 2 and 5 also showed activity against promastigotes of L. amazonensis with IC₅₀ = 61 (28-133) μM and IC₅₀ = 14 (9-24) μM, respectively. Further computational studies applying molecular docking simulations were performed on the competitive inhibitors to gain insight into the molecular basis for arginase inhibition and could be exploited to the development of new antileishmanials drug targeting parasite arginase.