An Insight into the Current Perspective and Potential Drug Targets for Visceral Leishmania (VL).

An Insight into the Current Perspective and Potential Drug Targets for Visceral Leishmania (VL). Curr Drug Targets. 2020 Apr 21;: Authors: Mansuri R, Singh J Abstract Leishmaniasis is one of the six entities on the list of most important diseases of the World Health Organization/Tropical Disease Research (WHO/TDR). After Malaria, it is one of the most prevalent and lethal parasitic diseases. VL is one of the most fatal forms of this disease, especially if left untreated. The drugs that are currently available for the treatment of this disease are expensive, toxic or no longer effective especially in endemic regions. Currently no vaccine has been developed to immunize humans against this disease. The major problems with the current drugs are the development of resistance and their adverse effects. Therefore, there is a strong urge to research and design drugs that have better efficacies and low toxicities as compared to current chemotherapy drugs. Leishmania has various enzymes involved in its metabolic pathways which are unique to either the same genus or trypanosomatids making them a very suitable, attractive and novel target sites for drug development. One of the major pathways unique to trypanosomatids is the thiol metabolism pathway which in involved in the maintenance of redox homeostasis as well as protection of the parasite in the macrophage from oxidative stress induced damage. Herein several pathways and their enzyme systems...
Source: Current Drug Targets - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Tags: Curr Drug Targets Source Type: research