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Drug development against sleeping sickness: old wine in new bottles?
1Interfaculty Institute of Biochemistry, University of Tubingen, Hoppe-Seyler-Str. 4, 72076 Tubingen, Germany. michael.duszenko@uni-tuebingen.de.
Current Medicinal Chemistry
|November 21, 2013
Summary
Developing new drugs for human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) is crucial. Research focuses on parasite-specific targets and cellular mechanisms to create more effective and less toxic treatments for this neglected tropical disease.
Area of Science:
- Neglected tropical diseases
- Parasitology
- Drug discovery
Background:
- Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), or sleeping sickness, has limited treatment options.
- Current drugs are toxic and have severe side effects, necessitating new therapeutic strategies.
- Drug development for HAT has stagnated for decades.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review historical drug development for HAT.
- To identify novel druggable targets and cellular mechanisms in trypanosomes.
- To explore new avenues for treating central nervous system (CNS) infections in HAT.
Main Methods:
- Historical overview of HAT drug development.
- Analysis of parasite-specific pathways and enzymes as drug targets.
- Investigation of parasite differentiation and cell density regulation.
- Review of recent research on CNS infection and immune privilege.
Main Results:
- Identification of potent druggable targets within trypanosome-specific pathways.
- Understanding of parasite mechanisms for differentiation and cell density regulation.
- Novel insights into trypanosome strategies for establishing chronic CNS infections.
Conclusions:
- Despite past failures, new drug development for HAT is promising.
- Targeting parasite-specific pathways and cellular processes offers new therapeutic strategies.
- Advancements in structural biology (X-ray crystallography) aid in developing effective HAT treatments.
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