Marcos Vinicius da Silva*, Brenna Louise Cavalcanti Gondim, Tamires Marielem de Carvalho-Costa, Maria Tays Mendes, Marcela Rezende Lemes, Rafaela Miranda Barbosa, Talita Nunes Cardoso, Natália Santos Nascimento, Daniela Bomfim Barros, Márcia Vanusa da Silva, Juliana Reis Machado and Lúcio Roberto Cançado Castellano Pages 7513 - 7528 ( 16 )
Chagas Disease, also known as American trypanosomiasis, is a Neglected Tropical Disease that affects around seven million people, especially in Latin America. Noteworthy, there has been an increase in the numbers of case reports in non-endemic areas, such as North America, Europe, Japan, and Australia. The disease is a vector-borne disease caused by the pathogen Trypanosoma cruzi being transmitted by infected bugs. It is known that about forty percent of infected patients develop cardiac, digestive, or neurological alterations. There are only two drugs currently used for treatment, benznidazole and nifurtimox. However, both therapeutic regimens present several limitations, such as toxicity, mutagenicity and low efficiency during the chronic phase. Some reports in the literature point to the occurrence of parasite resistance. To overcome these limitations, the bioprospection of novel molecules as alternatives is one of the major goals to improve therapeutic success in this chronic disease. Bioprospecting active metabolites from natural resources might bring new hopes for disease control and parasite elimination. Here we summarize the most recent advances to identify and test Algae, Bacteria and Fungi-derived bioactive compounds with trypanocidal activity using experimental models, in vitro testing and in silico approaches.
Chagas disease, trypanosoma cruzi, virulence factors, therapeutics, algal proteins, fungal proteins.
Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, Federal University of Triângulo Mineiro, Uberaba, Minas Gerais, Human Immunology Research and Education Group-GEPIH, Technical School of Health, Federal University of Paraiba, Joao Pessoa, Paraiba, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, Federal University of Triângulo Mineiro, Uberaba, Minas Gerais, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, Federal University of Triângulo Mineiro, Uberaba, Minas Gerais, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, Federal University of Triângulo Mineiro, Uberaba, Minas Gerais, Human Immunology Research and Education Group-GEPIH, Technical School of Health, Federal University of Paraiba, Joao Pessoa, Paraiba, Human Immunology Research and Education Group-GEPIH, Technical School of Health, Federal University of Paraiba, Joao Pessoa, Paraiba, Human Immunology Research and Education Group-GEPIH, Technical School of Health, Federal University of Paraiba, Joao Pessoa, Paraiba, Department of Biochemistry, Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Department of Pathology, Genetics and Evolution, Federal University of Triangulo Mineiro, Uberaba, Minas Gerais, Human Immunology Research and Education Group-GEPIH, Technical School of Health, Federal University of Paraiba, Joao Pessoa, Paraiba