Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 8, Issue 5, 2008

Parasite infections are common in many developing countries and constitute a public health problem. Taenia solium cysticercosis is still an important parasitosis in rural pigs in many developing countries and affects millions of humans in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The tapeworms produce thousand of embryos in eggs that are infective for humans, causing the human disease neurocysticercosis, and porcine cystice Read More

Taenia solium cysticercosis is still an important parasitosis in rural pigs in many developing countries, Mexico among them. The main causes for the persistence of this condition are lack of hygiene in the rural communities, lack of education of the animal owners, lack of control in the trade of pigs and their meat and lack of conscientious meat inspection. The pig production systems in the marginated areas of Mexico are briefly me Read More

This chapter describes the life cycle, general morphology and ultrastructure of the larval and adult stages of Taenia solium, a parasitic flatworm of humans found in underdeveloped countries. Experimental results describing the role of proteins and glycoproteins in the host-parasite relationship, as well as the various strategies the larval stage has developed to evade the host immune responses are analyzed. Characteristics of th Read More

Parasitic helminthes have developed complex mechanisms to evade or modulate hosts responses. Studies on cysticercosis are solid, but scarce. The most studied immunological models of cysticercosis are Taenia crassiceps infecting mice and T. solium infecting pigs. These parasites, despite being widely exposed to the host, are able to modulate the host immune system. Taenia metacestodes, much like other helminthes para Read More

This review focuses in the role that antioxidant enzymes play in protection and other important physiological functions such as signal transduction, cell differentiation, growth and apoptosis. Parasites use these enzymes to evade ROS produced by the host immune response and for development inside the host. In the cestoda Taenia solium, three antioxidant enzymes have been studied: a cystosolic Cu,Zn superoxide dismutase tha Read More

We review here the role that sex steroids play in experimental intraperitoneal Taenia crassiceps cysticercosis of male and female BalbC/AnN mice. Briefly, estrogens favour and androgens hinder the reproduction of cysticerci by at least two main mechanisms: 1) through estradiol tilting the TH2/TH1 immune system balance towards parasite-permissive TH2 response,which is IL-6 dependent mediating P450-aromatase over e Read More

Over the last years the biology of many parasites that infect humans and domestic animals has been intensively studied. Considerable efforts were addressed to obtain information on the parasite-host immune relationship. However, the knowledge of the endocrine physiology of parasites and the consequences of the local hormone production on the host tissues needs further investigation. We review here literature and our ow Read More

Taenia solium cysticercosis is a major parasitic disease that seriously and frequently affects human health and economy in undeveloped countries. Since pigs are an indispensable intermediate host, it is conceivable to curb transmission by reducing pig cysticercosis through their effective vaccination. This article reviews current knowledge on the development vaccines against porcine cysticercosis. It highlights the develop Read More

Neurocysticercosis is one of the most frequent parasitic diseases affecting the central nervous system. The introduction of anticysticidal therapy in the early 80's and the concomitant improvement of the radiological techniques have lead to apparently significant progress in patient prognosis. However, due to the specificity of the disease, a great debate has been generated on the real usefulness of cysticidal drugs. This article Read More

Is Zetia™ a A ‘Do Nothing’ Drug? After months of delays and on the eve of meetings with congressional investigators, results from the much anticpated ENHANCE clinical trial for Vytorin™ were finally disclosed (January 15, 2008) to the dismay of pharmacuetical giants Merck and Schering- Plough, with the announcement that VytorinTM conferred no medical benefit over Zocor™ alone [1-4]. The ENHANCE trial was Read More