cost action b22 on “drug development for parasitic diseases” the problem african sleeping...
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COST Action B22 on “Drug Development for Parasitic Diseases”
The Problem
• African sleeping sickness:– about 500.000 fatalities / yr in Africa
• Chagas’ disease:– 18 million people infected in latin America and 40.000 deaths / yr
• Leishmaniasis:– 12 million people infected and 350 million people at risk in tropical and
sub-tropical areas
• Malaria:– 500 million cases world-wide and 2-3 million fatalities / yr
• Other parasitic diseases– Amaebiasis, giardiasis, trichomoniasis, cryptosporidiosis, etc.
COSTEuropean Cooperation in the Field of Scientific
and Technical Research
COST Action B22 on “Drug Development for Parasitic Diseases”
The purpose of the action is to improve antiparasitic drug treatment by:
• Promoting collaboration between research laboratories
• Stimulating development and testing of new drugs
• Establishing a dialogue between scientists, public health workers and people from industry by organising scientific meetings and workshops
COST Action B22 on “Drug Development for Parasitic Diseases” (2002-2007)
The countries (21)• Austria (1)• Belgium (2)• Bulgaria (1)• Canada (1)• Czech Republic (1)• Denmark (1)• France (2)• Germany (2)• Greece (2)• Ireland (1)
• Associated members– Canada, IOCD, DNDi, Australia, SBRI,
South Africa
• Israel (2)
• Italy (2)
• Lithuania (2)
• Luxemburg (1)• Portugal (2)
• Slovakia (2)
• Spain (2)
• Sweden (2)
• Switzerland (2)
• The Netherlands (2)
• United Kindom (2)
Activities:
• Organisation of a general congress each year in one of the member countries
• Organisation of specialised workshops
• Short term missions between laboratories of member states
COST Action B22 on “Drug Development for Parasitic Diseases”
Working groups:
1. Genetic approaches to validate potential drug targets
2. Drug-target evaluation (in vitro and in vivo)
3. Drug screening
4. Pre-clinical development
5. Drug resistance
COST Action B22 on “Drug Development for Parasitic Diseases”
Publications (situation 30 November 2006):
Well over 600 publications in peer reviewed journals Joint publications:
43 collaborative papers since the start of the Action.
STSMs:
3 in 2004 3 in 2005 and 1 in 2006
COST Action B22 on “Drug Development for Parasitic Diseases”
Annual meetings of COST Action B22:
1st Annual Congress, 22-24 November, 2004, Antwerp, Belgium. 150 participants
2nd Annual Congress, 29 Sept - 1 Oct, 2005, Siena, Italy. 155 participants
3rd annual Congress, 1-4 October, 2006, Athens, Greece. 175 participants
4th Annual Congress, 10-13 June, 2007, Dundee, Scotland.
COST Action B22 on “Drug Development for Parasitic Diseases”
Website:
www.icp.be/cost/costb22/ E-mail list:
COST Action B22 on “Drug Development for Parasitic Diseases”
Results:
Three genome projects of trypanosomatids completed (Science 15 July, 2005)
Drug targets identified using RNAi techniques (several groups)
Antitrypanosome diamidines in clinical trials (Brun, Basel)
Antimalarial phospholipid (Henri Vial, Montpellier) and internal peroxide derivatives (Bernard Meunier) in clinical trials
COST Action B22 on “Drug Development for Parasitic Diseases”
Some highlights
Drug target validation using novel RNAi techniques:
Cyclic AMP-specific phosphodiesterases in T. brucei (T. Seebeck, Bern)
New antimalarial lead compounds:
Phospholipid analogues (Henri Vial, University of Montpellier, France in collaboration with Sanofi-Aventis)
Thomas Seebeck, Bern
• Two cAMP-specific phosphodiesterases of T. brucei are absolutely essential.
• If RNAi is induced against them either in culture or in the mouse, the cells are killed, and the infection is eliminated.
• This system mimicks quite nicely the effect of phosphodiesterase inhibitors, and certainly defines the PDEs as good targets.
• PDEs are well-studied targets in human pharmacology, and so a lot of expertise is available in the pharma industry on how to screen and develop PDE inhibitors.
• FASEB Journal (in press).
Phospholipd metabolism as a drug target in Plasmodium merozoites
Henri Vial, University of Montpellier, France
