British scientists have developed a compound that can kill parasites responsible for three tropical diseases, it was announced last night.
The chemical could provide treatments and preventative measures for Chagas disease, leishmaniasis and trypanosomiasis – diseases found throughout South America, Asia and Africa.
The chemical, GNF6702, is effective against the kinetoplastid parasites that cause the diseases but does not damage human cells, researchers reported in Nature last night.
Researchers tested more than three million chemicals before they came across GNF6702.
They now plan to begin the process of turning it into a usable treatment.
Professor Jeremy Mottram, Chair in Pathogen Biology at the Centre for Immunology and Infection at the University of York, UK, said: "It’s a breakthrough in our understanding of the parasites that cause the three diseases, potentially allowing them to be cured.
"This early phase drug discovery project will now move towards toxicity testing prior to human trials."
Dr Stephen Caddick, Director of Innovation at Wellcome, which backed the research, said: "These three diseases lead to more than 50,000 deaths annually, yet they receive relatively little funding for research and drug development.
"We hope that our early stage support for this research will provide a basis for the development of new treatments that could reduce suffering for millions of people in the poorest regions of the world."
Proteasome inhibition for treatment of leishmaniasis, Chagas disease and sleeping sickness, by S Khare et al. Nature 8 August 2016; doi: 10.1038/nature19339.
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