by Kip AE, Balasegaram M, Beijnen JH, Schellens JHM, de Vries PJ, Dorlo TPC. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy 2014, doi:10.1128/AAC.04298-14.
Summary: The renewed interest in developing new drugs for the treatment of leishmaniasis has highlighted the need for markers to monitor and compare therapies, particularly for VL during the period when previously undetectable parasite levels increase again following treatment and symptoms reappear. This can take a long time and is difficult to predict. A systematic review was performed to evaluate biomarkers in VL, CL and PKDL patients, which identified 170 studies in which 53 potential biomarkers were identified. Although the large majority are common markers and lacked specificity, some markers of parasite levels show promise but will need further optimization and correlation to clinical symptoms.
