Apicomplexan Parasites Molecular Approaches toward Targeted Drug Development

by Becker, Katja; Selzer, Paul M.

• ISBN13: 9783527327317
• ISBN10: 3527327312
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-06-20
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

This handbook deals with the discovery of drugs to fight apicomplexan parasites, a group of endoparasites that includes the causative agents of malaria, toxoplasmosis, and babesiosis, among others. Written by renowned scientific experts from academia and industry, the book focuses on current drug development approaches for all apicomplexan diseases, thus making it attractive to a large audience ranging from research labs in academia to the human and veterinarian pharmaceutical industry.This is the second volume in our exciting book series Drug Discovery in Infectious Diseases, edited by Prof. Paul M. Selzer.

Author Biography

Katja Becker obtained her degree in medicine from Heidelberg University. She carried out her doctoral thesis as well as her lecturing qualification at the Biochemistry Centre, Heidelberg, before obtaining a Junior Group Leader Position at the Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Wurzburg University. She has held the chair for nutritional biochemistry at the Justus-Liebig University Giessen since 2000. Her scientific focus is on the characterization of redox active proteins as drug targets, and she has produced more than 170 scientific publications and received numerous scientific awards, including the Carus Medal of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the Leuckart Medal of the German Society for Parasitology. Professor Becker has been a member of the Leopoldina since June 2009. Paul M. Selzer studied biology, parasitology, and biochemistry at the University of Tubingen, Germany, where he also received his PhD in biochemistry. He spent three years at the Molecular Design Institute and the Parasitology and Tropical Disease Research Laboratory of Prof. James H. McKerrow at the University of California, San Francisco. During his career he has worked as a researcher and scientific manager for several pharmaceutical companies, and is currently employed by Intervet Innovation GmbH, Germany, part of a leading animal health company. He is also a visiting professor and teacher in biochemistry, bioinformatics, and chemoinformatics at the University of Tubingen, and an honorary professor of the Department of Infection and Immunity at the University of Glasgow, UK.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. v
Preface	p. xi
List of Contributors	p. xiii
Screening, Bioinformatics, Chemoinformatics, and Drug Design	p. 1
Drug Discovery Approaches Toward Anti Parasitic Agents	p. 3
New Bioinformatic Strategies Against Apicomplexan Parasites	p. 21
Sorting Potential Therapeutic Targets in Apicompiexa	p. 35
Alternatives to Drug Development in the Apicompiexa	p. 53
Metabolic Pathways and Processes Addressed by Current Drug Discovery Approaches	p. 75
Energy Metabolism as an Antimalarial Drug Target	p. 77
Polyamines in Apicomplexan Parasites	p. 97
The Reducing Milieu of Parasitized Cells as a Target of Antimalarial Agents: Methylene Blue as an Ethical Drug	p. 225
Lipids as Drug Targets for Malaria Therapy	p. 137
Targeting Apicoplast Pathways in Plasmodium	p. 163
Lipoic Acid Acquisition and Glutathione Biosynthesis in Apicomplexan Parasites	p. 287
Antimalarial Drugs and Molecules Inhibiting Hemozoin Formation	p. 205
Exploiting the Vitamin Metabolism of Apicomplexa as Drug Targets	p. 235
Vitamin Biosynthetic Pathways, the PLP Synthase Complex, and the Potential for Targeting Protein-Protein Interaction	p. 251
Targeting Prokaryotic Enzymes in the Eukaryotic Pathogen Cryptosporidium	p. 271
Drug Targets in Apicomplexan Parasites	p. 287
Novel Apicomplexan Phosphatases and Immunophilins as Domain Specific Drug Targets	p. 289
Dehydrogenases and Enzymes of the Mitochondrial Electron Transport Chain as Anti-Apicomplexan Drug Targets	p. 307
Calcium Dependent Protein Kinases as Drug Targets in Apicomplexan Parasites	p. 319
Protein Acylation: New Potential Targets for Intervention Against the Apicomplexa	p. 335
Drugs and Drug Targets in Neospora caninum and Related Apicomplexans	p. 359
Compounds	p. 373
Subversive Substrates of Glutathione Reductases from Plasmodium falciparum-Infected Red Blood Cells as Antimalarial Agents	p. 375
Ferroquine: A Concealed Weapon	p. 397
Current Aspects of Endoperoxides in Antiparasitic Chemotherapy	p. 413
Plasmodium Hsp90 as an Antimalarial Target	p. 431
Drug Discovery Against Babesia and Toxoplasma	p. 453
Search for Drugs and Drug Targets against Babesia bovis, Babesia bigemina, Babesia caballi, and Babesia (Theileria) equi	p. 469
Orlistat: A Repositioning Opportunity as a Growth Inhibitor of Apicomplexan Parasites?	p. 482
Recent Drug Discovery Against Cryptosporidium	p. 493
Index	p. 523
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