Trends in Parasitology
ReviewCollaborative actions in anti-trypanosomatid chemotherapy with partners from disease endemic areas
Section snippets
Trypanosomatid diseases are a major global health problem
Trypanosomatids are parasitic kinetoplastid protozoa that cause major diseases in humans [1], including human African trypanosomiasis (HAT or sleeping sickness) caused by Trypanosoma brucei sspp., Chagas disease caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, and various forms of leishmaniasis caused by species of the Leishmania genus (Table 1). The leishmaniases are characterized by a spectrum of clinical manifestations, including visceral, cutaneous and mucocutaneous infections. In this review, we will focus on
Current limitations of anti-trypanosomatid chemotherapy
Chemotherapy, together with vector control, remains one of the most important elements in the control of trypanosomatid disease as there are currently no vaccines to prevent either Leishmania or Trypanosoma infection [6]. The arsenal of available drugs is limited, and all current treatments suffer from significant drawbacks (Table 2) (i.e. parenteral route of administration, length of treatment, toxicity, and/or cost, which limits their utilization in disease endemic areas).
Novel efforts to confront limitations in anti-trypanosomatid chemotherapy
The European Commission (EC) has supported research in parasitic diseases over the past 25 years through the successive Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development (FP). Prior to the launch of the most recent Framework Programme (FP7, 2007-2013), the political support to increase European research in neglected infectious diseases mounted as a result of advocacy by the scientific community, international humanitarian organisations and stakeholders in disease-endemic
Future perspectives for a global trypanosomatid network
The establishment of the three consortia, LEISHDRUG, KALADRUG-R and TRYPOBASE, is the first important step in a new, concerted attempt to establish a global initiative to safeguard existing drugs and discover, develop and deliver new and improved drugs for neglected protozoal diseases. The three consortia presented in this review provide three distinct ways to tackle and overcome the challenges associated with discovery, development, delivery and guarding of new drug candidates for three
Acknowledgements
We express our gratitude to our partners from Europe and Developing Countries. Activities presented in this review are funded by EC (Grant agreements n°223414, n°222895, and n°223238). The Genome and Metabolome Integrated Initiative (GeMInI) is funded by secondary research funding of the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp. The authors would like to thank all members of the LEISHDRUG, KALADRUG-R and TRYPOBASE consortia for their contributions and critical reading of the manuscript.
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