Cytotoxicity and activity of thiosemicarbazones and semicarbazones in Mycobacterium tuberculosis: a systematic review

Abstract

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis), causing agent of tuberculosis (TB), is a slow growth with a lipid-rich-cell wall, that confers protection against the action of a significant number of drugs. Thiosemicarbazones (TSCs) and semicarbazones (SCs) have a broad spectrum of pharmacological properties, especially antimicrobial. To the best of our knowledge, there is no systematic review reporting evidence of the anti-M. tuberculosis activity of these substances. This research carried out a systematic review to assess the available literature on the activity of TSCs and SCs on M. tuberculosis, as well as the cytotoxicity in different cell types. Four electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Scopus), were searched according to the PRISMA statement. The search resulted in 2,187 articles. Among the 32 selected, 27 addressed the activity and cytotoxicity of substances related to TSCs and/or SCs. For M. tuberculosis, MIC ranged from 0.031-1,403 µM. Among all substances analyzed, 63 were considered active in relation to standard drugs. The predominant cytotoxicity assay was MTT (69%) and almost half of the articles used VERO cells. Toxicity of most substances was promising. Many TSCs have anti-TB activity superior to many drugs already used in the basic regimens of TB treatment, with low toxicity, both in sensitive and resistant M. tuberculosis. New research should be carried out to obtain new chemical drug prototypes for treating TB.