Redox Biology of Trypanosomes Laboratory

Research Overview: Thiol-dependent Redox Networks of Trypanosomes

Several trypanosomatid species are responsible for a variety of highly disabling and often fatal diseases of human and live-stock (i.e. African sleeping sickness, Chagas’ disease, black-fever and Nagana cattle-disease, and Sura disease). It is widely acknowledged that treatment of Human Trypanosomiasis suffers from low efficacy, safety and affordability. The future perspectives are particularly discouraging due to the appearance of drug resistance and the infeasibility of a vaccine approach. With the ultimate goal of contributing to revert this situation, research in our group is devoted to study several key components of the thiol-dependent metabolism of trypanosomes of proven indispensability for parasite survival, virulence or drug resistance (see Fig.). The studies include the biochemical, structural and biological characterization of proteins involved in the production (trypanothione synthetase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase) and utilization (tryparedoxin, monothiol glutaredoxins) of important redox cofactors. Moreover, ongoing collaborative work is focused on the exploitation of the information on these targets towards the development of new medicines and on the evaluation of novel drug candidates and therapies against trypanosomiasis.

See Research page for further information.