Brumlik Michael J, Pandeswara Srilakshmi, Ludwig Sara M, Murthy Kruthi, Curiel Tyler J
Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, and Program in Immunology and Microbiology, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA.
J Signal Transduct. 2011;2011:971968. doi: 10.1155/2011/971968. Epub 2011 Feb 27.
Protozoan pathogens are a highly diverse group of unicellular organisms, several of which are significant human pathogens. One group of protozoan pathogens includes obligate intracellular parasites such as agents of malaria, leishmaniasis, babesiosis, and toxoplasmosis. The other group includes extracellular pathogens such as agents of giardiasis and amebiasis. An unfortunate unifying theme for most human protozoan pathogens is that highly effective treatments for them are generally lacking. We will review targeting protozoan mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) as a novel drug discovery approach towards developing better therapies, focusing on Plasmodia, Leishmania, and Toxoplasma, about which the most is known.
原生动物病原体是一类高度多样化的单细胞生物，其中有几种是重要的人类病原体。一类原生动物病原体包括专性细胞内寄生虫，如疟疾、利什曼病、巴贝斯虫病和弓形虫病的病原体。另一类包括细胞外病原体，如贾第虫病和阿米巴病的病原体。大多数人类原生动物病原体的一个不幸的共同主题是，通常缺乏针对它们的高效治疗方法。我们将综述以原生动物丝裂原活化蛋白激酶（MAPK）为靶点，作为开发更好疗法的一种新型药物发现方法，重点关注疟原虫、利什曼原虫和弓形虫，目前对它们的了解最多。
