title: Drug discovery for Chagas disease should consider Trypanosoma cruzi strain diversity.
abstract: This opinion piece presents an approach to standardisation of an important aspect of Chagas disease drug discovery and development: selecting Trypanosoma cruzi strains for in vitro screening. We discuss the rationale for strain selection representing T. cruzi diversity and provide recommendations on the preferred parasite stage for drug discovery, T. cruzi discrete typing units to include in the panel of strains and the number of strains/clones for primary screens and lead compounds. We also consider experimental approaches for in vitro drug assays. The Figure illustrates the current Chagas disease drug-discovery and development landscape.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Química, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brasil.
authors.forename: Bianca
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zingales
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Miles
authors.affiliation: Laboratório Nacional de Biociências, Centro Nacional de Pesquisa em Energias e Matérias, Campinas, SP, Brasil.
authors.forename: Carolina B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Moraes
authors.affiliation: Hospital das Clínicas, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, GO, Brasil.
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Luquetti
authors.affiliation: Centro de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Tropical, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia.
authors.forename: Felipe
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Guhl
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Alejandro G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Schijman
authors.affiliation: Drugs for Neglected Disease initiative, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Isabela
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ribeiro
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000469:parasitology; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D055808:Drug Discovery; D008018:Life Cycle Stages / Q000187:drug effects; D058069:Neglected Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000469:parasitology; D013045:Species Specificity; D014344:Trypanocidal Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000145:classification* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development
chemical_list: D014344:Trypanocidal Agents