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New approach to screening drugs for activity against African trypanosomes

Abstract

THE African trypanosomes are unicellular eukaryotic parasites responsible for serious diseases in man (such as sleeping sickness) and domestic animals (such as nagana in cattle). The chemotherapy of these diseases is unsatisfactory1. Only a few drugs are available: these have serious side effects, drug resistance is a problem and “new drugs for clinical use are too expensive to develop and produce”2 using classical empirical screening methods. We report here how knowledge of trypanosome metabolism has led to a new method for screening drugs against trypanosomes. This could provide a short-cut to new drugs or drug combinations.

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FAIRLAMB, A., OPPERDOES, F. & BORST, P. New approach to screening drugs for activity against African trypanosomes. Nature 265, 270–271 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/265270a0

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