Tropical Protozoan Diseases: Discovery and Development of Antiparasitic Drugs

A special issue of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease (ISSN 2414-6366).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (5 February 2024) | Viewed by 3247

Special Issue Editor


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of Parnaíba Delta, Parnaíba 64202-020, Brazil
Interests: neglected diseases; leishmaniasis; Chagas diseases; malaria; toxoplasmosis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Tropical diseases caused by protozoa affect more than one billion people worldwide, with 90% of those infected living in developing countries. With limited resources, research and infrastructure investment to control these diseases has been insufficient. With devastating social and economic consequences, diseases such as malaria, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, human African trypanosomiasis, and toxoplasmosis are responsible for great morbidity and mortality worldwide. Clinical manifestations reveal distinct epidemiological profiles which depend on the species, the region involved, and the patient's immunological conditions. For most tropical diseases, the current treatments are outdated and present significant drawbacks, including toxicity, the need for hospitalization, drug resistance, and high costs. New treatments for tropical diseases are urgently needed.

This Special Issue on Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases aims to gather relevant manuscripts involving basic, translational, and clinical research, and covering various advances in treatment for tropical diseases caused by protozoa. For this research topic, we are inviting interested researchers to share their original research, relevant findings, and review articles in the areas of:

  • anti-protozoan drug identification;
  • drug combinations;
  • immunotherapy;
  • drug-delivery systems;
  • parasite drug resistance;
  • target identification—validation for tropical protozoan diseases of medical interest.

Prof. Dr. Klinger Antonio da Franca Rodrigues
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • neglected diseases
  • drug development
  • leishmaniasis
  • trypanosomiasis
  • toxoplasmosis
  • malaria

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Review

20 pages, 6773 KiB  
Review
Mitochondrial Cytochrome bc1 Complex as Validated Drug Target: A Structural Perspective
by Lothar Esser and Di Xia
Trop. Med. Infect. Dis. 2024, 9(2), 39; https://doi.org/10.3390/tropicalmed9020039 - 1 Feb 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2777
Abstract
Mitochondrial respiratory chain Complex III, also known as cytochrome bc1 complex or cyt bc1, is a validated target not only for antibiotics but also for pesticides and anti-parasitic drugs. Although significant progress has been made in understanding the mechanisms of [...] Read more.
Mitochondrial respiratory chain Complex III, also known as cytochrome bc1 complex or cyt bc1, is a validated target not only for antibiotics but also for pesticides and anti-parasitic drugs. Although significant progress has been made in understanding the mechanisms of cyt bc1 function and inhibition by using various natural and synthetic compounds, important issues remain in overcoming drug resistance in agriculture and in evading cytotoxicity in medicine. In this review, we look at these issues from a structural perspective. After a brief description of the essential and common structural features, we point out the differences among various cyt bc1 complexes of different organisms, whose structures have been determined to atomic resolution. We use a few examples of cyt bc1 structures determined via bound inhibitors to illustrate both conformational changes observed and implications to the Q-cycle mechanism of cyt bc1 function. These structures not only offer views of atomic interactions between cyt bc1 complexes and inhibitors, but they also provide explanations for drug resistance when structural details are coupled to sequence changes. Examples are provided for exploiting structural differences in evolutionarily conserved enzymes to develop antifungal drugs for selectivity enhancement, which offer a unique perspective on differential interactions that can be exploited to overcome cytotoxicity in treating human infections. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop