Drug Targets: Screening for Small Molecules that Inhibit Fasciola hepatica Enzymes

The in vitro screening of small molecules for enzymatic inhibition provides an efficient means of finding new compounds for developing drug candidates. This strategy has the advantage of being rapid and inexpensive to perform. Enzymes are suitable targets for screening when simple methods to obtain them and measure their activities are available and there is evidence of their essential role in the parasite's life cycle. Here, we describe the screening of small molecules as inhibitors of two Fasciola hepatica enzyme targets (cathepsin L and triose phosphate isomerase), an initial step to find new potential compounds for drug development strategies.