Disrupting parasite that causes sleeping sickness with drugs can help combat the disease, reveal researchers.
Scientists identified a protein, called proliferating cell nuclear antigen or PCNA, that was vital to the sleeping sickness parasite's good health. Disrupting this protein with drugs could potentially make it impossible for the parasite to reproduce and survive, reducing the health dangers to its human hosts.
Scientists Find Important Element in the Fight Against Sleeping Sickness
At Aarhus University, researchers have taken an important step in the fight against sleeping sickness, a disease that is a major problem in parts of Africa.
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The discovery suggested multiple ways to disrupt PCNA's function, said Zachary Mackey, an assistant professor of biochemistry in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, a Fralin Life Science Institute affiliate and an affiliated researcher in Virginia Tech's Vector-Borne Disease Research Group.
These include using drugs to either overexpress, deplete or block the protein. The fact that PCNA could be exploited in a variety of ways to kill the parasite means that a wide range of small molecules or drugs could be used to deregulate it.
![New Chemical Compounds Could Lead to Sleeping Sickness Cure]( "New Chemical Compounds Could Lead to Sleeping Sickness Cure")
A new research has helped scientists indentify hundreds of chemical compounds that could provide cure for sleeping sickness.
Though a few drugs exist to treat late stages of infection, they are either very expensive or have extremely powerful side effects, according to Mackey.
The next step for the researchers would be to investigate how altering the level of PCNA kills the parasite. Once they have a better understanding of how this protein regulates the life cycle of the parasite, the team can partner with chemists to synthesize small molecules that target its disruption.
The study is published in the Cell Cycle.
Source: ANI
New Chemical Compounds Could Lead to Sleeping Sickness Cure
A new research has helped scientists indentify hundreds of chemical compounds that could provide cure for sleeping sickness.
Advertisement
Though a few drugs exist to treat late stages of infection, they are either very expensive or have extremely powerful side effects, according to Mackey.
The next step for the researchers would be to investigate how altering the level of PCNA kills the parasite. Once they have a better understanding of how this protein regulates the life cycle of the parasite, the team can partner with chemists to synthesize small molecules that target its disruption.
The study is published in the Cell Cycle.
Source: ANI
Some Trypanosomes Cause Sleeping Sickness While Others Don't
Devastating diseases in humans and livestock are caused by tsetse flies when they transmit Trypanosome parasites.
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 Mating Among Microbes That Cause African Sleeping Sickness Reported for First TimeMating among microbes responsible for African sleeping sickness has been observed for the first time by researchers from the University of Bristol. | Advertisement
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