In silico repositioning of approved drugs against Schistosoma mansoni energy metabolism targets

PLoS One. 2018 Dec 31;13(12):e0203340. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0203340. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Schistosomiasis is a neglected parasitosis caused by Schistosoma spp. Praziquantel is used for the chemoprophylaxis and treatment of this disease. Although this monotherapy is effective, the risk of resistance and its low efficiency against immature worms compromises its effectiveness. Therefore, it is necessary to develop new schistosomicide drugs. However, the development of new drugs is a long and expensive process. The repositioning of approved drugs has been proposed as a quick, cheap, and effective alternative to solve this problem. This study employs chemogenomic analysis with use of bioinformatics tools to search, identify, and analyze data on approved drugs with the potential to inhibit Schistosoma mansoni energy metabolism enzymes. The TDR Targets Database, Gene DB, Protein, DrugBank, Therapeutic Targets Database (TTD), Promiscuous, and PubMed databases were used. Fifty-nine target proteins were identified, of which 18 had one or more approved drugs. The results identified 20 potential drugs for schistosomiasis treatment; all approved for use in humans.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Computer Simulation
  • Drug Approval*
  • Drug Repositioning*
  • Energy Metabolism / drug effects*
  • Humans
  • Schistosoma mansoni / metabolism*
  • Schistosomiasis mansoni / drug therapy*
  • Schistosomiasis mansoni / metabolism
  • Schistosomicides*

Substances

  • Schistosomicides

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq/MS/DECIT n. 37/2014. Projeto 470298/2014-6 to CBB). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.