title: Activity of anticancer compounds against Trypanosoma cruzi-infected mice.
abstract: Chagas' disease, which is caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, remains essentially incurable. Due principally to a lack of profit incentive, the pharmaceutical industry has had limited interest in developing new antichagasic drugs. Thus, a search for agents that exhibit activity against T. cruzi, although medicaments have been developed for the treatment of other diseases, seems justifiable. Responding to evidence that the principal biochemical differences between mammalian cells and African trypanosomes apply equally to T. cruzi, our evaluations were conducted. Previous work showed the effectiveness of anticancer agents against T. rhodesiense. In the present studies, 76 anticancer compounds were assessed for their ability to suppress the trypomastigotes of T. cruzi- infected mice. Five compounds were found to be active. The most effective was cycloheximide, which was more than six times as effective as the standard, nifurtimox.
authors.affiliation: Division of Experimental Therapeutics, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, District of Columbia 20307-5100, USA.
authors.forename: K E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Kinnamon
authors.forename: B T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Poon
authors.forename: W L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Hanson
authors.forename: V B
authors.initials: VB
authors.lastname: Waits
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001600:Berberine Alkaloids / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000188:drug therapy*; D003513:Cycloheximide / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D051379:Mice; D009547:Nifurtimox / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011806:Quinolinium Compounds / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012110:Reserpine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D013311:Streptozocin / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D001600:Berberine Alkaloids; D011806:Quinolinium Compounds; D013311:Streptozocin; C000666:coralyne; D012110:Reserpine; D003513:Cycloheximide; D009547:Nifurtimox