Article
A mechanism for cross-resistance to nifurtimox and benznidazole in trypanosomes.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America - 1 Apr 2008
Wilkinson Shane R, Taylor Martin C, Horn David, Kelly John M, Cheeseman Ian
Abstract excerpt
Nifurtimox and benznidazole are the front-line drugs used to treat Chagas disease, the most important parasitic infection in the Americas. These agents function as prodrugs and must be activated within the parasite to have trypanocidal effects. Despite >40 years of research, the mechanism(s) of action and resistance have remained elusive. Here, we report that in trypanosomes, both drugs are activated by a...
Topics
- Animals
- Drug Resistance
- Gene Expression Regulation
- Genome, Protozoan
- Mitochondria
- Nifurtimox
- Nitroimidazoles
- Nitroreductases
- Phenotype
- Protozoan Proteins
- Trypanocidal Agents