Yan Lujun, Li Yating, Yang Xing, Li Rui, Zhu Chunyin, He Xuedong, Jin Xiaoliang, Zheng Guanghui, Mehmood Naunain, Cho William C, Bao Shijun, Song Houhui, Zheng Yadong
Key Laboratory of Applied Technology on Animal Science & Veterinary Medicine of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang Engineering Research Center for Veterinary Diagnostics & Advanced Technology, Zhejiang International Science and Technology Cooperation Base for Veterinary Medicine and Health Management, Belt and Road International Joint Laboratory for One Health and Food Safety, China-Australia Joint Laboratory for Animal Health Big Data Analytics, College of Veterinary Medicine of Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, China.
Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, School of Basic Medicine, Dali University, Dali, Yunnan, China.
Virulence. 2025 Dec;16(1):2532803. doi: 10.1080/21505594.2025.2532803. Epub 2025 Jul 15.
Parasite diseases pose a significant threat due to the serious harm they cause to hosts, and developing affordable drugs for treatment presents enormous challenges. "Target repurposing" has emerged as a promising strategy to overcome this difficulty by leveraging the drug targets for human diseases and matching them with homologs in parasites. The PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, known for its crucial role in regulating malignant cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, has been validated as a drug target for cancer. Interestingly, the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway is also involved in parasite development, infection, and survival within the hosts. During infection, parasites can exploit the host's PI3K/AKT signaling, which influences immune cell apoptosis, macrophage activation, regulatory T cell functions, and the communication between immune cells, thus facilitating chronic infection. The immunoregulatory functions of the PI3K/AKT signaling make its inhibitors promising candidates for the control of parasite diseases. This review mainly outlines the characteristics and functions of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway during parasite infection and further provides an overview of the drugs targeting the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway for treating parasite diseases.
寄生虫病因其对宿主造成的严重危害而构成重大威胁，开发价格可承受的治疗药物面临巨大挑战。“药物靶标重新定位”已成为一种有前景的策略，通过利用人类疾病的药物靶标并将其与寄生虫中的同源物匹配来克服这一困难。PI3K/AKT信号通路以其在调节恶性细胞增殖、迁移和侵袭中的关键作用而闻名，已被确认为癌症的药物靶标。有趣的是，PI3K/AKT信号通路也参与寄生虫在宿主体内的发育、感染和存活。在感染过程中，寄生虫可以利用宿主的PI3K/AKT信号，这会影响免疫细胞凋亡、巨噬细胞活化、调节性T细胞功能以及免疫细胞之间的通讯，从而促进慢性感染。PI3K/AKT信号的免疫调节功能使其抑制剂有望成为控制寄生虫病的候选药物。本综述主要概述了寄生虫感染期间PI3K/AKT信号通路的特征和功能，并进一步综述了靶向PI3K/AKT信号通路治疗寄生虫病的药物。
