Emerging Therapeutic Targets Against Toxoplasma gondii: Update on DNA Repair Response Inhibitors and Genotoxic Drugs

ANGEL S.O.; LAURA VANAGAS; DIEGO M. RUIZ; CONSTANZA CRISTALDI; ANA M. SALDARRIAGA CARTAGENA; WILLIAM J. SULLIVAN JR.

Frontiers in Cellular an Infection Microbiology

Frontiers

Año: 2020 vol. 10

Toxoplasma gondii is the causative agent of toxoplasmosis in animals and humans.This infection is transmitted to humans through oocysts released in the feces of thefelines into the environment or by ingestion of undercooked meat. This implies thattoxoplasmosis is a zoonotic disease and T. gondii is a foodborne pathogen. In addition,chronic toxoplasmosis in goats and sheep is the cause of recurrent abortions witheconomic losses in the sector. It is also a health problem in pets such as cats anddogs. Although there are therapies against this infection in its acute stage, they are notable to permanently eliminate the parasite and sometimes they are not well tolerated. Todevelop better, safer drugs, we need to elucidate key aspects of the biology of T. gondii.In this review, we will discuss the importance of the homologous recombination repair(HRR) pathway in the parasite?s lytic cycle and how components of these processes canbe potential molecular targets for new drug development programs. In that sense, theeffect of different DNA damage agents or HHR inhibitors on the growth and replicationof T. gondii will be described. Multitarget drugs that were either associated with othertargets or were part of general screenings are included in the list, providing a thoroughrevision of the drugs that can be tested in other scenarios.