title: Natural products as leads in schistosome drug discovery.
abstract: Schistosomiasis is a neglected parasitic tropical disease that claims around 200,000 human lives every year. Praziquantel (PZQ), the only drug recommended by the World Health Organization for the treatment and control of human schistosomiasis, is now facing the threat of drug resistance, indicating the urgent need for new effective compounds to treat this disease. Therefore, globally, there is renewed interest in natural products (NPs) as a starting point for drug discovery and development for schistosomiasis. Recent advances in genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics, and cheminformatics have brought about unprecedented opportunities for the rapid and more cost-effective discovery of new bioactive compounds against neglected tropical diseases. This review highlights the main contributions that NP drug discovery and development have made in the treatment of schistosomiasis and it discusses how integration with virtual screening (VS) strategies may contribute to accelerating the development of new schistosomidal leads, especially through the identification of unexplored, biologically active chemical scaffolds and structural optimization of NPs with previously established activity.
authors.affiliation: LabMol-Laboratory for Drug Design and Molecular Modeling, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia 74605-170, Brazil. bruno.labmol@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Bruno J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Neves
authors.affiliation: LabMol-Laboratory for Drug Design and Molecular Modeling, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia 74605-170, Brazil. carolina@ufg.br.
authors.forename: Carolina H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Andrade
authors.affiliation: GenoBio-Laboratory of Genomics and Biotechnology, Instituto de Patologia Tropical e Saúde Pública, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia 74605-050, Brazil. pedrovcravo@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Pedro V L
authors.initials: PV
authors.lastname: Cravo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001095:Arachidonic Acids / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D037621:Artemisinins / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001688:Biological Products / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D055808:Drug Discovery; D006801:Humans; D011804:Quinolines / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012547:Schistosoma / Q000187:drug effects; D012552:Schistosomiasis / Q000188:drug therapy; D012556:Schistosomicides / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D013729:Terpenes / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D001095:Arachidonic Acids; D037621:Artemisinins; D001688:Biological Products; D011804:Quinolines; D012556:Schistosomicides; D013729:Terpenes