Biochemical peculiarities and drug targets in Cryptosporidium parvum: lessons from other coccidian parasites.
There is an urgent need for effective medicines for treating human and animal cryptosporidiosis. In the absence of drugs being found using an empirical route, the structure-based approach may be the better option for discovering new chemotherapeutic agents against these diseases. With this objective, what possible drug targets are there? Here, Graham Coombs speculates on the best putative targets for chemotherapeutic attack, and reviews what is known and what can be deduced about the biochemical features of Cryptosporidium parvum, the causative agent of cryptosporidiosis, emphasizing the ways in which the parasite differs biochemically from its mammalian hosts.
Coombs
G H
GH
Division of Infection and Immunity, Institute of Biomedical and Life Sciences, Joseph Black Buliding, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK G12 8QQ. g.coombs@bio.gla.ac.uk
D000818:Animals; D003457:Cryptosporidiosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016785:Cryptosporidium parvum / Q000235:genetics; D015195:Drug Design; D004579:Electron Transport; D005492:Folic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006655:Histone Deacetylases / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D011743:Pyrimidines / Q000378:metabolism
D011743:Pyrimidines; D005492:Folic Acid; D006655:Histone Deacetylases; C030986:pyrimidine