| Autor: |
Ezquerra-Aznárez JM; Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Medicina, Instituto de Biocomputación y Física de Sistemas Complejos (BIFI), Universidad de Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain., Almeida da Silva PE; Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Medicina, Instituto de Biocomputación y Física de Sistemas Complejos (BIFI), Universidad de Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain.; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Saúde, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Rio Grande 96200-190, Brazil., Aínsa JA; Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Medicina, Instituto de Biocomputación y Física de Sistemas Complejos (BIFI), Universidad de Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain.; Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Aragón (IIS-Aragón), 50009 Zaragoza, Spain.; CIBER de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029 Madrid, Spain. |
| Abstrakt: |
Antimicrobial resistance, the so-called silent pandemic , is pushing industry and academia to find novel antimicrobial agents with new mechanisms of action in order to be active against susceptible and drug-resistant microorganisms. In the case of tuberculosis, the need of novel anti-tuberculosis drugs is specially challenging because of the intricate biology of its causative agent, Mycobacterium tuberculosis . The repurposing of medicines has arisen in recent years as a fast, low-cost, and efficient strategy to identify novel biomedical applications for already approved drugs. This review is focused on anti-parasitic drugs that have additionally demonstrated certain levels of anti-tuberculosis activity; along with this, natural products with a dual activity against parasites and against M. tuberculosis are discussed. A few clinical trials have tested antiparasitic drugs in tuberculosis patients, and have revealed effective dose and toxicity issues, which is consistent with the natural differences between tuberculosis and parasitic infections. However, through medicinal chemistry approaches, derivatives of drugs with anti-parasitic activity have become successful drugs for use in tuberculosis therapy. In summary, even when the repurposing of anti-parasitic drugs for tuberculosis treatment does not seem to be an easy job, it deserves attention as a potential contributor to fuel the anti-tuberculosis drug pipeline. |
