Figure 1.

Ibrutinib treatment reduces the parasitic load during Leishmania donovani infection. A, Timeline of the study. Female BALB/C mice aged 6–7 weeks were infected with 10⁷ LV82 Leishmania donovani amastigotes. At 14 days after infection, mice were randomized into 4 groups and then the treatments began. Mice were treated orally with either ibrutinib (6 mg/kg) or vehicle formulations once daily from days 14 to 28 after infection. Other groups were treated with a single dose of 70 mg/kg sodium stibogluconate (SSG) and phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) via intraperitoneal injection. Mice were euthanized at day 28 after infection, and tissues were harvested for analysis. Parasitic burdens in livers (B) and spleens (C) of PBS-, vehicle-, ibrutinib-, and SSG-treated groups, respectively. Data are mean Leishman-Donovan units (LDU) ± standard error of the mean and represent the values of one of the 3 independent experiments, with ≥5 mice/group. *P < .05 and ***P < .001, by the unpaired t test.