Tamoxifen is an antagonist of the estrogen receptor and currently used for the treatment of breast cancer. The current treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis with pentavalent antimony compounds is not satisfactory. Therefore, in this study, due to its antileishmanial activity, effects of tamoxifen on the growth of promastigotes and amastigotes of Leishmania major Iranian strain were evaluated in vitro. Promastigotes and amastigotes were treated with different concentrations (1, 5, 10, 20, and 50 µg/ml) and time periods (24, 48, and 72 hr) of tamoxifen. After tamoxifen treatment, MTT assay (3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5 biphenyl tetrazolium bromide assay) was used to determine the percentage of live parasites and Graph Pad Prism software to calculate IC50. Flow cytometry was applied to investigate the induction of tamoxifen-induced apoptosis in promastigotes. The half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of tamoxifen on promastigotes was 2.6 µg/ml after 24 hr treatment. Flow cytometry analysis showed that tamoxifen induced early and late apoptosis in Leishmania promastigotes. While after 48 hr in control group the apoptosis was 2.0%, the 50 µg/L concentration of tamoxifen increased it to 59.7%. Based on the in vitro antileishmanial effect, tamoxifen might be used for leishmaniasis treatment; however, further researches on in vivo effects of tamoxifen in animal models are needed.
Animals ; Antiprotozoal Agents/pharmacology/therapeutic use ; Apoptosis/*drug effects ; Cells, Cultured ; Inhibitory Concentration 50 ; Leishmania major/*drug effects ; Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous/drug therapy ; Macrophages/parasitology ; Mice ; Tamoxifen/*pharmacology/therapeutic use

Objective: To determine the prevalence and economic losses of Fasciola spp. isolates and costs incurred due to liver condemnation from ruminants in Kashan region, center of Iran from 2012 to 2013. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a total number of 251 325 slaughtered sheep, goats and cattle (88 939 sheep, 151 924 goats and 10 462 cattle) were examined via necropsy for fasciolasis in industrial Kashan abattoirs located in center of Iran. The average weight was calculated as 1 000 g for sheep, 900 g for goat and 5 000 g for cattle in this study region. Based on market value, the average price of a kilo gram of normal liver at Kashan city during the study period was 8 USD.The amount of main nutrients and vitamins elimination in liver contaminated to fascioliasis was determined. Results: Overall 3.28% of the livers were found to be infected. For total number of sheep, goats and cattle slaughtered annually in region study, it was estimated that 7 505 livers were infected and total annual economic losses of fascioliasis of studied animals was 41 784 USD (based on market prices in study period). Of this, 23 360 USD, 30 240 USD and 15 400 USD were associated with the fascioliasis of sheep, goats and cattle, respectively. Conclusions: This study indicated that the Fasciola sp. clearly remains prevalent and causes considerable economic losses in study region in sheep, goats and cattle and presumably, other areas and hosts of Iran, providing baseline data for the future monitoring of this potentially important parasitic infection in the country.