Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: Chagas disease, caused by the unicellular parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, claims 50,000 lives annually and is the leading cause of infectious myocarditis in the world. As current antichagastic therapies like nifurtimox and benznidazole are highly toxic, ineffective at parasite eradication, and subject to increasing resistance, novel therapeutics are urgently needed. Cruzain, the major cysteine protease of Trypanosoma cruzi, is one attractive drug target. In the current work, molecular dynamics simulations and a sequence alignment of a non-redundant, unbiased set of peptidase C1 family members are used to identify uncharacterized cruzain binding sites. The two sites identified may serve as targets for future pharmacological intervention.
Source: PLoS neglected tropical diseases
Authors: Jacob D. Durrant, Henrik Keränen, Benjamin A. Wilson, J. Andrew McCammon
Language: English
Subfield: Epidemiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,670
Funders: National Science Foundation, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, National Institutes of Health, University of California, San Diego, Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego
OpenAlex ID: W2039978498