{"id":34306,"date":"2018-10-30T16:52:43","date_gmt":"2018-10-30T11:22:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=34306"},"modified":"2018-10-30T16:52:43","modified_gmt":"2018-10-30T11:22:43","slug":"novel-inhibitor-to-combat-kala-azar-identified","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/novel-inhibitor-to-combat-kala-azar-identified\/","title":{"rendered":"Novel inhibitor to combat kala-azar identified:\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/science\/novel-inhibitor-to-combat-kala-azar-identified\/article19939586.ece?homepage=true\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Novel inhibitor to combat kala-azar identified<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Context<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scientists have been able to identify a FDA-approved molecule that shows enhanced anti-kala-azar activity by combining structure-based drug designing methodology<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What is kala-azar?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) as kala-azar is the most severe form of leishmaniasis and, without proper diagnosis and treatment, is associated with high fatality.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This disease is the second-largest parasitic killer in the world responsible for an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 infections each year worldwide<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One active inhibitor molecule showed the highest stability in binding to the active sites of the target enzyme which helps in the formation of glycoprotein, beta-Galf.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After binding to the UGM, the molecule inhibits the enzyme activity thereby reducing the virulence, parasite survival and transmission of disease.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What is the treatment available for Kala-azar?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Treatment for kala-azar is limited due to high toxicity to human cells, low efficacy of the drug, high cost and drug resistance making the development of novel anti-kala-azar drugs a priority.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How deep-rooted is the disease in India?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India has around 3,000 people afflicted with kala-azar, accounting for 50% of the global burden. It is endemic in West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and eastern Uttar Pradesh.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What is Beta-Galf?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beta-Galf is a major cell surface component of Leishmania parasite and is responsible for the virulence of the pathogens and plays an essential role in parasite survival and transmission of disease.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beta-Galf is also found in Mycobacterium tuberculosis that causes TB and Trypanosoma cruzi parasite that causes sleeping sickness but is absent in humans.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Like beta-Galf, the UGM enzyme is also absent in humans but is critical for the biosynthesis of beta-Galf thereby making the UGM enzyme an attractive drug target.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What was the observation?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the three chosen inhibitors was evaluated in vitro for anti- Leishmania activity and found to significantly inhibit the growth of Leishmania donovani.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Different doses of the compound were tested and the minimum inhibitory concentration or IC50 value (the lowest concentration of the compound required to inhibit the visible growth of a pathogen) was found to be 50 microgram per litre.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Novel inhibitor to combat kala-azar identified:\u00a0 Context Scientists have been able to identify a FDA-approved molecule that shows enhanced anti-kala-azar activity by combining structure-based drug designing methodology What is kala-azar? Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) as kala-azar is the most severe form of leishmaniasis and, without proper diagnosis and treatment, is associated with high fatality. This disease&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/novel-inhibitor-to-combat-kala-azar-identified\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Novel inhibitor to combat kala-azar identified:\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-test-1","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704884840},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34306\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}