Recent advances in identification of potential drug targets and development of novel drugs in parasitic diseases. Part III: Helminths

Abstract

The term "magic bullet" was chosen to explain how a drug kills the pathogen with a greater affinity and specificity to its target without effecting its orthologue in human. The ideal parasite target is a molecule essential for its viability, growth, proliferation, and differentiation. The majority of commonly administered anthelminthics target either neuromuscular elements, or metabolic pathways. On the other hand, genomics studies combined with transcriptome analyses revealed advanced information in understanding hostparasite interactions that yielded clues for new strategies in identification of new parasite targets and designing novel inhibitors. In fact, next generation sequencing technology provides unique opportunities to understand parasites molecular biology and their role in parasite-host interactions. Besides, drug repurposing is a promising approach to expand the pool of molecules with potent inhibitory activity against a specific parasite target. The present review aims to highlight the proposed potential helminth drug targets with special emphasis on the major tropical diseases such as schistosomiasis, hydatid cyst, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciases and soil transmitted diseases. The review also highlights hypothesized potential targets for future development of novel anthelminthics utilizing aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase and the 20S core proteasome, as well as new strategies targeting parasitic response to overcome host mechanistic target of rapamycin.

Tackling Sleeping Sickness: Current and Promising Therapeutics and Treatment Strategies

“…This study has summarized most of the promising therapeutics currently being explored and their challenges. The ideal anti-parasitic drug target would be an essential protein for parasite survival significantly different from its orthologue in the host [294]. However, the presence of an orthologue in mammals does not necessarily mean that a particular target should not be pursued [117].…”