Antimicrobial Peptides to Treat African Sleeping Sickness
- *Abstract
-
Application(Product)
- Treatmentof sleeping sickness in humans
- Treatmentof wasting disease in cattle
- Potentialtherapeutic intervention applicable for a variety of protozoa, including butnot limited to kinetoplastid protozoa
- Demonstratedability to kill the bloodstream form of kinetoplastid protozoans of the genus Trypansoma
ProblemsAddressed (benefits/advantages)
- Safer than current treatments
- Potential for broad application
- Desirable effects of treatment include:
- preventing occurrence or recurrence of disease
- alleviation of symptoms
- diminishment of any direct or indirectpathological consequences of the disease
- decreasing the rate of disease progression
- amelioration or palliation of the diseasestate, and;
- remission or improved prognosis
TechnologySummary
Trypanosomabrucei (T. brucei) is aparasitic protist species that is the causative agent of both a veterinarywasting disease & human African trypanosomiasis, otherwise known assleeping sickness. Currently, approximately 500,000 people are infected withAfrican trypanosomes. The subspecies Trypanosomabrucei brucei (T. b. brucei)causes a wasting disease in cattle. No vaccines are available for prevention ofinfection by T. brucei and withoutchemotherapeutic treatment, T. bruceikills its victims. Drugs currently in use are quite toxic and cause seriousside effects and sometimes death. Consequently, there is a strong need for newand safer drugs for the treatment of trypanosomiasis, and new drugs must bedeveloped in order to prepare for possible emergence of drug resistance in theparasites.
Using hydrophobic signal sequence peptides, University ofGeorgia researchers developed a method of treating/preventing T. brucei infection. These peptides exhibit reduced or no toxicitytowards mammalian cell lines and induced limited or no hemolysis. The invention demonstrates, for the firsttime, the trypanocidal activity of hydrophobic signal sequence and providesmethods of killing, inhibiting the growth, and/or inhibiting the reproductionof kinetoplastid protozoan, including, but not limited to, kinetoplastidprotozoan of the genus Trypanosoma.
Inventors
· SteveHajduk
· JohnHarrington
TheHajduk laboratory is interested in the molecular and biochemical basis ofparasitic diseases. They are currentlystudying African trypanosomes which are important protozoan parasites causinghuman African sleeping sickness and Nagana in cattle. They have made important contributions to theunderstanding the biology of these parasites and have investigated theunderlying mechanisms and function of gene expression, RNA editing, humaninnate immunity to trypanosome infection and the role of membrane nanotubes andextracellular vesicles (EVs) in communication between trypanosomes and withhost cells. Research in the Hajduk laboratory has been funded by NIH, WHO andthe Burroughs Wellcome Fund.
http://www.bmb.uga.edu/labs/hajduk
TechnologyDevelopment and IP Status
· Pre-clinicalstage
· USPatent Nos. 8,475,767 & 9,079,977
- *IP Issue Date
- None
- *IP Type
- Utility
- 国家
- United States
- 申请号码
- 8,475,767
- 国家/地区
- 美国
