Toward Chemical Validation of Leishmania infantum Ribose 5-Phosphate Isomerase as a Drug Target.

ABSTRACT: Neglected tropical diseases caused by kinetoplastid parasites (Trypanosoma brucei, Trypanosoma cruzi, and Leishmania spp.) place a significant health and economic burden on developing nations worldwide. Current therapies are largely outdated, inadequate, and face mounting drug resistance from the causative parasites. Thus, there is an urgent need for drug discovery and development. Target-led drug discovery approaches have focused on the identification of parasite enzymes catalyzing essential biochemical processes, which significantly differ from equivalent proteins found in humans, thereby providing potentially exploitable therapeutic windows. One such target is ribose 5-phosphate isomerase B (RpiB), an enzyme involved in the nonoxidative branch of the pentose phosphate pathway, wh

SUBMITTER: Dickie EA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8373210 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature