publications Archives - Page 30 of 69 - Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases

Evolution of the monitoring and evaluation strategies to support the World Health Organization’s Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis

Donna Huber on December 22, 2020

The Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (GPELF) was established with the ambitious goal of eliminating LF as a public health problem. The remarkable success of the GPELF over the past 2 decades in carrying out its principal strategy of scaling up and scaling down mass drug administration has relied first on the development of …

Different Sensitivity of Control and MICU1- and MICU2-Ablated Trypanosoma cruzi Mitochondrial Calcium Uniporter Complex to Ruthenium-Based Inhibitors

Donna Huber on December 7, 2020

The mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake in trypanosomatids shares biochemical characteristics with that of animals. However, the composition of the mitochondrial Ca2+ uniporter complex (MCUC) in these parasites is quite peculiar, suggesting lineage-specific adaptations. In this work, we compared the inhibitory activity of ruthenium red (RuRed) and Ru360, the most commonly used MCUC inhibitors, with that of the recently …

Towards a comprehensive research and development plan to support the control, elimination and eradication of neglected tropical diseases

Donna Huber on November 11, 2020

To maximise the likelihood of success, global health programmes need repeated, honest appraisal of their own weaknesses, with research undertaken to address any identified gaps. There is still much to be learned to optimise work against neglected tropical diseases. To facilitate that learning, a comprehensive research and development plan is required. Here, we discuss how …

The nucleocytosolic O-fucosyltransferase Spindly affects protein expression and virulence in Toxoplasma gondii

Donna Huber on November 9, 2020

Once considered unusual, nucleocytoplasmic glycosylation is now recognized as a conserved feature of eukaryotes. While in animals O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) modifies thousands of intracellular proteins, the human pathogen Toxoplasma gondii transfers a different sugar, fucose, to proteins involved in transcription, mRNA processing and signaling. Knockout experiments showed that TgSPY, an ortholog of plant SPINDLY and paralog of host OGT, …

Diagnostics and the neglected tropical diseases roadmap: setting the agenda for 2030

Donna Huber on November 9, 2020

Accurate and reliable diagnostic tools are an essential requirement for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) programmes. However, the NTD community has historically underinvested in the development and improvement of diagnostic tools, potentially undermining the successes achieved over the last 2 decades. Recognizing this, the WHO, in its newly released draft roadmap for NTD 2021-2030, has identified …

A modified drug regimen clears active and dormant trypanosomes in mouse models of Chagas disease

Donna Huber on October 28, 2020

A major contributor to treatment failure in Chagas disease, caused by infection with the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, is that current treatment regimens do not address the drug insensitivity of transiently dormant T. cruzi amastigotes. Here, we demonstrated that use of a currently available drug in a modified treatment regimen of higher individual doses, given less frequently over …

Signaling pathways involved in environmental sensing in Trypanosoma cruzi

Donna Huber on October 9, 2020

Trypanosoma cruzi is a unicellular parasite and the etiologic agent of Chagas disease. The parasite has a digenetic life cycle alternating between mammalian and insect hosts, where it faces a variety of environmental conditions to which it must adapt in order to survive. The adaptation to these changes is mediated by signaling pathways that coordinate …

Glycomics, Glycoproteomics and Glycogenomics: an Inter-Taxa Evolutionary Perspective

Donna Huber on September 29, 2020

Glycosylation is a highly diverse set of co- and post-translational modification of proteins. For mammalian glycoproteins, glycosylation is often site-, tissue- and species-specific, and diversified by microheterogeneity. Multitudinous biochemical, cellular, physiological and organismic effects of their glycans have been revealed, either intrinsic to the carrier proteins or mediated by endogenous reader proteins with carbohydrate recognition …

Assessing the Beneficial Effects of the Immunomodulatory Glycan LNFPIII on Gut Microbiota and Health in a Mouse Model of Gulf War Illness

Donna Huber on September 27, 2020

The microbiota's influence on host (patho) physiology has gained interest in the context of Gulf War Illness (GWI), a chronic disorder featuring dysregulation of the gut-brain-immune axis. This study examined short- and long-term effects of GWI-related chemicals on gut health and fecal microbiota and the potential benefits of Lacto-N-fucopentaose-III (LNFPIII) treatment in a GWI model. …

Discovery of repurposing drug candidates for the treatment of diseases caused by pathogenic free-living amoebae

Donna Huber on September 24, 2020

Diseases caused by pathogenic free-living amoebae include primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (Naegleria fowleri), granulomatous amoebic encephalitis (Acanthamoeba spp.), Acanthamoeba keratitis, and Balamuthia amoebic encephalitis (Balamuthia mandrillaris). Each of these are difficult to treat and have high morbidity and mortality rates due to lack of effective therapeutics. Since repurposing drugs is an ideal strategy for orphan diseases, …

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