Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 16, 2026

In Vitro Drug Screening Against All Life Cycle Stages of Trypanosoma cruzi Using Parasites Expressing β-galactosidase
Published on: November 5, 2021
Design and evaluation of Trypanosoma brucei metacaspase inhibitors
Maya Berg1, Pieter Van der Veken, Jurgen Joossens
1Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Abstract:
Metacaspase (MCA) is an important enzyme in Trypanosoma brucei, absent from humans and differing significantly from the orthologous human caspases. Therefore MCA constitutes a new attractive drug target for antiparasitic chemotherapeutics, which needs further characterization to support the discovery of innovative drug candidates. A first series of inhibitors has been prepared on the basis of known substrate specificity and the predicted catalytic mechanism of the enzyme. In this Letter we present the first inhibitors of TbMCA2 with low micromolar enzymatic and antiparasitic activity in vitro combined with low cytotoxicity.
Related Concept Videos
Antiprotozoal Agents
American Trypanosomiasis

