Current Drug Targets - Volume 3, Issue 4, 2002

Hepatitis C virus (HCV), a member of the Flaviviridae family, has been recognised to be responsible for both parenterally transmitted and sporadic non-A and non-B hepatitis affecting 1-3% of the world population. HCV is a positive stranded RNA virus encoding a single polyprotein which contains at least ten unique structural and non-structural proteins. Amongst these the structural protein E2 has been of special interest for vaccin Read More

Thymidylate synthase (TS) is an essential enzyme in de novo synthesis of thymidylate, and is required for DNA synthesis and cell proliferation in the absence of exogenous thymidine. As a consequence, TS is a target for anticancer chemotherapy by several drugs, including 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and raltitrexed (Tomudex), in treatment of colorectal and other tumors. TS overexpression due to increased gene transcription and mRN Read More

Protozoan parasites are responsible for important diseases that threaten the lives of nearly one-quarter of the human population world-wide. Among them, leishmaniasis has become the second cause of death, mainly due to the emergence of parasite resistance to conventional drugs. P-glycoprotein (Pgp)-like transporters overexpression is a very efficient mechanism to reduce the intracellular accumulation of many drug Read More

The streptogramin antibiotics were discovered over 40 years ago but are only now emerging as important therapeutic agents for the treatment of infection caused by a variety of bacteria. The streptogramins consist of mixtures of two structurally distinct compounds, type A and type B, which are separately bacteriostatic, but bactericidal in appropriate ratios. These antibiotics act at the level of inhibition of translation through b Read More

Antibiotic resistance appearance and spread have been classically considered the result of a process of natural selection, directed by the use of antibiotics. Bacteria, that have to face the antibiotic challenge, evolve to acquire resistance and, under this strong selective pressure, only the fittest survive, leading to the spread of resistance mechanisms and resistant clones. Horizontal transference of resistance mechanisms s Read More