title: Therapeutical approaches under investigation for treatment of Chagas disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A century after its discovery, American trypanosomiasis or Chagas disease remains a serious health problem in Latin America, where it affects around 7 - 8 million people. The prevalence of Chagas disease in the poorer parts of the world has meant that it has largely been neglected with limited progress that made in identifying new drugs for the treatment. The nitroheterocyclic drugs nifurtimox and benznidazole are first-line drugs available for Chagas disease with limitations that include variable efficacy, long treatment courses and toxicity.
  
  
  METHODS
  This review focuses on different therapeutic strategies that have been used for the discovery of new treatments for Chagas disease. These include combination chemotherapy, drug repositioning, re-dosing regimens for current drugs and the identification of new drugs with specified target profiles.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There are currently several reasons for a more optimistic view about chemotherapy with Chagas disease. However, despite some progress being made in preclinical studies, there is yet to be an ideal drug or formulation for human treatment. One major drawback in the evaluation of potential Chagas disease therapeutics is the lack of tools available to perform the said evaluation. Indeed, there is a great need to discover a better biomarker that could determine the efficacy of potential chemotherapeutics in treated patients.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, ICEB II - Campus Universitário Morro do Cruzeiro, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Laboratório de Doença de Chagas , sala 39, Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, CEP 35400-000 , Brazil +55 31 3559 1690 ; mtbahia@nupeb.ufop.br.
authors.forename: Maria Terezinha
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Bahia
authors.forename: Lívia de Figueiredo
authors.initials: Lde F
authors.lastname: Diniz
authors.forename: Vanessa Carla Furtado
authors.initials: VC
authors.lastname: Mosqueira
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology; D015195:Drug Design; D058492:Drug Repositioning; D006801:Humans; D014344:Trypanocidal Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D014344:Trypanocidal Agents
keywords: Chagas disease; Trypanosoma cruzi; chemotherapy; drug combinations; efficacy; nanocarriers; new formulations