Inhibition of polyamine biosynthesis by alpha-difluoromethylornithine in African trypanosomes and Pneumocystis carinii as a basis of chemotherapy: biochemical and clinical aspects.

The symposium provided dramatic evidence of the value of the use of polyamine inhibition via alpha-difluoromethylornithine (DFMO, eflornithine) for advances in chemotherapy of Trypanosoma brucei gambiense sleeping sickness and Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and also for further understanding the metabolic importance of the ubiquitous polyamines in these organisms.