Laboratory of Molecular & Evolutionary Parasitology, RAPID Group, School of Biosciences, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NJ, UK.
Department of Parasitology, University of Granada, Severo Ochoa s/n, Granada 18071, Spain.
Acta Trop. 2022 Dec;236:106679. doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2022.106679. Epub 2022 Sep 9.
Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease (CD), is a genuine parasite with tremendous genetic diversity and a complex life cycle. Scientists have studied this disease for more than 100 years, and CD drug discovery has been a mainstay due to the absence of an effective treatment. Technical advances in several areas have contributed to a better understanding of the complex biology and life cycle of this parasite, with the aim of designing the ideal profile of both drug and therapeutic options to treat CD. Here, we present the T. cruzi Arequipa strain (MHOM/Pe/2011/Arequipa) as an interesting model for CD drug discovery. We characterized acute-phase parasitaemia and chronic-phase tropism in BALB/c mice and determined the in vitro and in vivo benznidazole susceptibility profile of the different morphological forms of this strain. The tropism of this strain makes it an interesting model for the screening of new compounds with a potential anti-Chagas profile for the treatment of this disease.
克氏锥虫，恰加斯病（CD）的病原体，是一种具有巨大遗传多样性和复杂生命周期的真正寄生虫。科学家们已经对这种疾病进行了 100 多年的研究，由于缺乏有效的治疗方法，CD 药物发现一直是研究的重点。几个领域的技术进步有助于更好地了解这种寄生虫的复杂生物学和生命周期，目的是设计出理想的药物和治疗方案，以治疗 CD。在这里，我们提出 T. cruzi Arequipa 株（MHOM/Pe/2011/Arequipa）作为 CD 药物发现的一个有趣模型。我们在 BALB/c 小鼠中对急性阶段的寄生虫血症和慢性阶段的嗜性进行了表征，并确定了该菌株不同形态的体外和体内苯并咪唑敏感性特征。该菌株的嗜性使其成为筛选具有抗恰加斯病潜力的新化合物的一个有趣模型，以治疗这种疾病。
