Corifungin, a new drug lead against Naegleria, identified from a high-throughput screen.

ABSTRACT: Primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) is a rapidly fatal infection caused by the free-living ameba Naegleria fowleri. The drug of choice in treating PAM is the antifungal antibiotic amphotericin B, but its use is associated with severe adverse effects. Moreover, few patients treated with amphotericin B have survived PAM. Therefore, fast-acting and efficient drugs are urgently needed for the treatment of PAM. To facilitate drug screening for this pathogen, an automated, high-throughput screening methodology was developed and validated for the closely related species Naegleria gruberi. Five kinase inhibitors and an NF-kappaB inhibitor were hits identified in primary screens of three compound libraries. Most importantly for a preclinical drug discovery pipeline, we identified corifungin, a

SUBMITTER: Debnath A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3486592 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature