Antioxidant Therapy Against Trypanosome Infections: A Review Update

Trypanosomiasis is a serious parasitic disease that affects humans and animals resulting in heavy health and economic burdens. Disturbance of redox equilibrium represents a classical challenge for both the host and the parasite during infections with either extracellular African or intracellular American trypanosomes species. This is in spite of existing detoxification mechanisms in both the host and the parasite for maintaining oxidative balance. However, oxidative stress still plays vital roles in the induction of numerous host-associated pathological damages such as anemia, hepatic and renal damages as well as cardiomyopathy while on the other hand, drugs that specifically induce oxidative stress to the parasite have been effective. Therefore, antioxidants have been deemed to play a role in modulating trypanosome infections. This review provides a current update on most of the studies conducted on the potential use of antioxidants as therapeutic agents against trypanosomes. The most frequently studied plant-derived phenolic antioxidants are resveratrol, cucurmin, gallic acid and quercetin while other antioxidants such as vitamins (A, C, E) and trace elements (selenium and iron) have been investigated. Some of the investigations monitored the direct trypanocidal or trypanostatic effects of the antioxidants while others studied the potentials of the antioxidants as adjuncts to trypanocidal drugs. So far, none of these approaches has sufficient data to allow a definite statement on the actual therapeutic potential of antioxidants in the treatment of clinical trypanosomiasis. Therefore, suggestions are made on the most therapeutically and clinically relevant role of antioxidants in trypanosome infections.