Garcia-Salcedo, Jose AUnciti-Broceta, Juan DValverde-Pozo, JavierSoriano, Miguel2016-11-142016-11-142016-09-28Garcia-Salcedo JA, Unciti-Broceta JD, Valverde-Pozo J, Soriano M. New Approaches to Overcome Transport Related Drug Resistance in Trypanosomatid Parasites. Front Pharmacol. 2016; 7:351http://hdl.handle.net/10668/2523Leishmania and Trypanosoma are members of the Trypanosomatidae family that cause severe human infections such as leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, and sleeping sickness affecting millions of people worldwide. Despite efforts to eradicate them, migrations are expanding these infections to developing countries. There are no vaccines available and current treatments depend only on chemotherapy. Drug resistance is a major obstacle for the treatment of these diseases given that existing drugs are old and limited, with some having severe side effects. Most resistance mechanisms developed by these parasites are related with a decreased uptake or increased efflux of the drug due to mutations or altered expression of membrane transporters. Different new approaches have been elaborated that can overcome these mechanisms of resistance including the use of inhibitors of efflux pumps and drug carriers for both active and passive targeting. Here we review new formulations that have been successfully applied to circumvent resistance related to drug transporters, opening alternative ways to solve drug resistance in protozoan parasitic diseases.enTrypanosomatid parasitesDrug transportSurface transporterEfflux pumpsDrug resistance,NanocarriersAnimalesPortadores de fármacosPaíses en desarrolloEnfermedad de ChagasHumanosProteínas de transporte de membranaMutaciónParásitosTripanosomiasis AfricanaVacunasMedical Subject Headings::Organisms::Eukaryota::AnimalsMedical Subject Headings::Diseases::Parasitic Diseases::Protozoan Infections::Euglenozoa Infections::Trypanosomiasis::Chagas DiseaseMedical Subject Headings::Disciplines and Occupations::Social Sciences::Internationality::International Cooperation::Developing CountriesMedical Subject Headings::Chemicals and Drugs::Pharmaceutical Preparations::Dosage Forms::Drug CarriersMedical Subject Headings::Phenomena and Processes::Physiological Phenomena::Pharmacological Phenomena::Drug ResistanceMedical Subject Headings::Organisms::Eukaryota::Animals::Chordata::Vertebrates::Mammals::Primates::Haplorhini::Catarrhini::Hominidae::HumansMedical Subject Headings::Organisms::Eukaryota::Euglenozoa::Kinetoplastida::Trypanosomatina::LeishmaniaMedical Subject Headings::Diseases::Parasitic Diseases::Protozoan Infections::Euglenozoa Infections::LeishmaniasisMedical Subject Headings::Chemicals and Drugs::Amino Acids, Peptides, and Proteins::Proteins::Carrier Proteins::Membrane Transport ProteinsMedical Subject Headings::Phenomena and Processes::Genetic Phenomena::Genetic Variation::MutationMedical Subject Headings::Organisms::Eukaryota::Animals::Invertebrates::ParasitesMedical Subject Headings::Organisms::Eukaryota::Euglenozoa::Kinetoplastida::Trypanosomatina::TrypanosomaMedical Subject Headings::Diseases::Parasitic Diseases::Protozoan Infections::Euglenozoa Infections::Trypanosomiasis::Trypanosomiasis, AfricanMedical Subject Headings::Chemicals and Drugs::Complex Mixtures::Biological Agents::Vaccinesreview article27733833open access10.3389/fphar.2016.003511663-9812