The findings offer hope for the rapid development of curative drugs for people suffering from toxoplasmosis renewed

The findings offer hope for the rapid development of curative drugs for people suffering from toxoplasmosis renewed -

In the July 14 edition Scientific Reports (Nature), 39 researchers from 14 major institutions in the US, UK and France suggest new approaches that could accelerate the development of better medicines for people suffering from toxoplasmosis. This chronic, currently incurable infection caused by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii infects the brain and the eyes of many as 2 billion people worldwide.

Their findings provide conceptual roadmaps and practices to improve the efficacy and toxicity by reducing the available drugs. They also offer an overview of the biology of T. gondii , suggest the critical molecular targets for new drugs, and offer new hope for the rapid development of curative drugs for those much needed toxoplasmosis - . and potentially malaria

The researchers describe three significant advances:

• They characterized a new experimental model, a Brazilian strain of T. gondii , called EGS that behaves in tissue culture like cystic dormant parasites that live in the human brain cells. This is "an extremely useful and important advance in the development of medicine," said corresponding author of the study Rima McLeod, professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences and of pediatrics at the University of Chicago. "It allows us to define the genotype and phenotype in depth and identify what it does to blood stem cells and primary brain of its human host. Remarkably, this parasite encysted running on the tracks of the host cell way that can alter the ribosomal function and cause mis- splicing of transcripts and other defects associated with Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. "

• researchers found critical targets for various life stages of the parasite. Particularly attractive was the parasite mitochondrial protein, cytochrome b. The team was able to develop more soluble compounds that cytochrome b inhibitory existing quinolones. These can reduce parasite survival and physicochemical properties proportional to cross the blood-brain barrier to treat central nervous system infections. This work highlights the cytochrome bc 1 complex is a critical target. Co-crystallography of the enzyme with the inhibitor provides information to optimize the inhibitor compounds.

• They show a better understanding of T. gondii could have important implications for research against malaria. The compounds they developed were very effective against Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes malaria, including all strains resistant to drugs tested. Malaria, McLeod said, "kills a child every eleven seconds."

The findings of the importance of team because T. gondii is the most common cause of infection leading to the destruction of the back of the eye for people in most countries in the world. It is more harmful to infants and children who acquire the infection from their mothers during pregnancy, but it can also cause fatal infections in those with weakened immune systems, such as cancer, autoimmune disease and AIDS. highly virulent strains of Toxoplasma are now known to cause fatal disease, particularly in South America.

Much data analysis by researchers at the University of Chicago, published June 26, 2016, in Clinical Infectious Diseases, found the estimated annual incidence of toxoplasmosis during the last ten years the United States was 6137 people, based on the diagnostic code of the disease. An editorial in this newspaper notes that these data "are the strongest to date to indicate that toxoplasmosis is a significant disease burden in the United States."