Principal Investigator (PI)
The Foundation is providing £121,272 in support.
Dr Rosa Suarez - Dr Mariano Tilve
GSK provides in-kind contributions (including facilities and expertise from supporting scientists for Medicinal Chemistry and also through access to GSK's collection of compounds).
There are no vaccines to prevent T. cruzi infection and the current available chemotherapies - benznidazole and nifurtimox - require long courses of treatment and exhibit variable efficacy. Although this infection is generally well-controlled by host immune responses, with relatively low incidence of severe or life-threatening acute infections, the long-term persistence of T. cruzi results in >30% of infected subjects developing severe and eventually fatal heart disease later in life. This project will focus on the discovery of more potent and parasite-selective compounds that attack the T. cruzi infection at the main point of its pathogenesis – its ability to persist for decades in muscle and adipose tissues. The project will comprise screening using in vitro tests, a short-term in vivo screening assay, and (for highly selected compounds) a test of cure in mice. Selected drug candidates will be less toxic and more potent compared to those of current chemotherapies.