Instituto de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso 2373223, Chile.
Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago de Chile 8380453, Chile.
Biomolecules. 2023 Mar 26;13(4):599. doi: 10.3390/biom13040599.
Trypanosomiases are a group of tropical diseases that have devastating health and socio-economic effects worldwide. In humans, these diseases are caused by the pathogenic kinetoplastids , causing African trypanosomiasis or sleeping sickness, and , causing American trypanosomiasis or Chagas disease. Currently, these diseases lack effective treatment. This is attributed to the high toxicity and limited trypanocidal activity of registered drugs, as well as resistance development and difficulties in their administration. All this has prompted the search for new compounds that can serve as the basis for the development of treatment of these diseases. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are small peptides synthesized by both prokaryotes and (unicellular and multicellular) eukaryotes, where they fulfill functions related to competition strategy with other organisms and immune defense. These AMPs can bind and induce perturbation in cell membranes, leading to permeation of molecules, alteration of morphology, disruption of cellular homeostasis, and activation of cell death. These peptides have activity against various pathogenic microorganisms, including parasitic protists. Therefore, they are being considered for new therapeutic strategies to treat some parasitic diseases. In this review, we analyze AMPs as therapeutic alternatives for the treatment of trypanosomiases, emphasizing their possible application as possible candidates for the development of future natural anti-trypanosome drugs.
锥虫病是一组热带疾病，在全球范围内对健康和社会经济造成严重影响。在人类中，这些疾病是由致病的动基体原虫引起的，导致非洲锥虫病或昏睡病，以及导致美洲锥虫病或恰加斯病。目前，这些疾病缺乏有效的治疗方法。这归因于已注册药物的高毒性和有限的杀锥虫活性，以及耐药性的发展和其给药的困难。所有这些都促使人们寻找新的化合物，这些化合物可以作为开发这些疾病治疗方法的基础。抗菌肽（AMPs）是原核生物和（单细胞和多细胞）真核生物合成的小肽，在那里它们发挥与其他生物竞争策略和免疫防御相关的功能。这些 AMPs 可以结合并诱导细胞膜扰动，导致分子渗透、形态改变、细胞内稳态破坏和细胞死亡激活。这些肽对各种致病微生物具有活性，包括寄生原生动物。因此，它们被认为是治疗某些寄生虫病的新治疗策略的候选药物。在这篇综述中，我们分析了 AMPs 作为治疗锥虫病的替代方法，强调了它们作为未来天然抗锥虫药物开发的可能候选药物的潜在应用。
