1. The trypanosome alternative oxidase: a potential drug target?
- Author
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Terry K. Smith, Stefanie K. Menzies, Gordon J. Florence, and Lindsay B. Tulloch
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Drug ,Alternative oxidase ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Trypanosoma brucei brucei ,030231 tropical medicine ,Drug target ,Computational biology ,Trypanosoma brucei ,Mitochondrion ,Pharmacology ,Mitochondrial Proteins ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,In vivo ,Drug Discovery ,medicine ,Animals ,Humans ,African trypanosomiasis ,Plant Proteins ,media_common ,biology ,Drug discovery ,biology.organism_classification ,medicine.disease ,Trypanocidal Agents ,Mitochondria ,Trypanosomiasis, African ,030104 developmental biology ,Infectious Diseases ,Animal Science and Zoology ,Parasitology ,Oxidoreductases - Abstract
SUMMARYNew drugs againstTrypanosoma brucei,the causative agent of Human African Trypanosomiasis, are urgently needed to replace the highly toxic and largely ineffective therapies currently used. The trypanosome alternative oxidase (TAO) is an essential and unique mitochondrial protein in these parasites and is absent from mammalian mitochondria, making it an attractive drug target. The structure and function of the protein are now well characterized, with several inhibitors reported in the literature, which show potential as clinical drug candidates. In this review, we provide an update on the functional activity and structural aspects of TAO. We then discuss TAO inhibitors reported to date, problems encountered within vivotesting of these compounds, and discuss the future of TAO as a therapeutic target.
- Published
- 2016