Title:Current Progress on the Genomics of Schistosomiasis for Drug Discovery and Diagnostics
VOLUME: 20 ISSUE: 5
Author(s):Nileshkumar Meghani, Beom-Jin Lee, Hardik Amin, Behzad Nili-Ahmadabadi and Saraswathy Nagendran*
Affiliation:College of Pharmacy, Ajou University, Yeongtong-gu, Gyeonggi-do, Suwon 16499, College of Pharmacy, Ajou University, Yeongtong-gu, Gyeonggi-do, Suwon 16499, Women's Malignancies Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, Nano Drug Delivery (a product development firm), Chapel Hill NC, Shobhaben Pratapbhai Patel School of Pharmacy and Technology Management, SVKM’s NMIMS, Vile Parle (W), Mumbai
Keywords:Genomics, drug discovery, personalized medicine, schistosomiasis vaccine, praziquantel, pharmacology.
Abstract:For a number of decades, schistosomiasis has remained a public threat and an economic
burden in a number of countries, directly impacting over 200 million people. The past 15 years
have seen tremendous progress in the development of high-throughput methods for targeting or
compound selection that are vital to early-stage schistosome drug discovery research. Genomewide
approaches to analyze gene expression at the transcriptional and other -omic levels have
helped immensely for gaining insight into the pathways and mechanisms involved in the schistosomiasis
and it is expected to revolutionize the drug discovery as well as related diagnostics.
This review discusses the most recent progress of pharmacology and genomics concerning schistosomiasis
with a focus on drug discovery and diagnostic tools. It also provides chemical structural
insights of promising targets along with available in vitro and/or in vivo data. Although significant
research has been done to identify new molecules for the treatment and new methods for
diagnosis, the necessity of new options for the sustainable control of schistosomiasis remains a
great challenge.
