title: Anti-parasitic Peptides from Arthropods and their Application in Drug Therapy.
abstract: Africa, Asia, and Latin America are regions highly affected by endemic diseases, such as Leishmaniasis, Malaria, and Chagas' disease. They are responsible for the death of 1000s of patients every year, as there is not yet a cure for them and the drugs used are inefficient against the pathogenic parasites. During the life cycle of some parasitic protozoa, insects become the most important host and disseminator of the diseases triggered by these microorganisms. As infected insects do not develop nocive symptoms, they can carry the parasites for long time inside their body, enabling their multiplication and life cycle completion. Eventually, parasites infect human beings after insect's transmission through their saliva and/or feces. Hence, host insects and general arthropods, which developed a way to coexist with such parasites, are a promising source for the prospection of anti-parasitic compounds, as alternative methods for the treatment of protozoa-related diseases. Among the molecules already isolated and investigated, there are proteins and peptides with high activity against parasites, able to inhibit parasite activity in different stages of development. Although, studies are still taking their first steps, initial results show new perspectives on the treatment of parasitic diseases. Therefore, in this report, we describe about peptides from host insect sources with activity against the three most endemic parasites: Leishmania sp., Plasmodium sp., and Trypanosomes. Moreover, we discuss the future application insect peptides as anti-parasitic drugs and the use of non-hosts insect transcriptomes on the prospection of novel molecules for the treatment of parasitic neglected diseases.
authors.affiliation: Plant-Pest Interaction Laboratory, PBI, Genetic Resources and Biotechnology, Brazilian Agriculture Research CorporationBrasilia, Brazil; Post-Graduation Program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Federal University of Rio Grande do NorteNatal, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ariane F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Lacerda
authors.affiliation: Plant-Pest Interaction Laboratory, PBI, Genetic Resources and Biotechnology, Brazilian Agriculture Research Corporation Brasilia, Brazil.
authors.forename: Patrícia B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Pelegrini
authors.affiliation: Plant-Pest Interaction Laboratory, PBI, Genetic Resources and Biotechnology, Brazilian Agriculture Research CorporationBrasilia, Brazil; Post-Graduation Program in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of BrasiliaBrasilia, Brazil.
authors.forename: Daiane M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: de Oliveira
authors.affiliation: Plant-Pest Interaction Laboratory, PBI, Genetic Resources and Biotechnology, Brazilian Agriculture Research CorporationBrasilia, Brazil; Department of Health Sciences, Integrated College of Educational Union's Central PlateauGama, Brazil.
authors.forename: Érico A R
authors.initials: ÉA
authors.lastname: Vasconcelos
authors.affiliation: Plant-Pest Interaction Laboratory, PBI, Genetic Resources and Biotechnology, Brazilian Agriculture Research CorporationBrasilia, Brazil; Post-Graduation Program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Federal University of Rio Grande do NorteNatal, Brazil; Post-Graduation Program in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of BrasiliaBrasilia, Brazil; Post-Graduation Program in Genomics Science and Biotechnology, Catholic University of BrasiliaBrasilia, Brazil.
authors.forename: Maria F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Grossi-de-Sá
keywords: anti-parasitic; host insects; peptides; proteins; tropical diseases