In vitro anti-Leishmania activity and molecular docking of spiro-acridine compounds as potential multitarget agents against Leishmania infantum.

Abstract Leishmaniasis is an infectious disease with several limitations regarding treatment schemes. This work reports the anti-Leishmania activity of spiroacridine compounds against the promastigote (IC50 = 1.1 to 6.0 µg / mL) and amastigote forms of the best compounds (EC50 = 4.9 and 0.9 µg / mL) in Leishmania (L.) infantum and proposes an in-silico study with possible selective therapeutic targets for L. infantum. The substituted dimethyl-amine compound (AMTAC 11) showed the best leishmanicidal activity in vitro, and was found to interact with TryR and LdTopoI. comparisons with standard inhibitors were performed, and its main interactions were elucidated. Based on the biological assessment and the structure-activity relationship study, the spiroacridine compounds appear to be promising anti-leishmania chemotherapeutic agents to be explored.