A-PARADDISE (Anti-Parasitic Drug Discovery in Epigenetics) is the name of the European project, coordinated by Inserm and funded by the European Commission, to test new treatments against four little-known parasitic diseases: bilharzia, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease and malaria. These four pathologies are fatal in affected developing countries.
In Africa, the Middle East, South America and East Asia, in the tropics and subtropics, nearly a billion people are threatened by these parasites responsible for these diseases. These would claim nearly a million victims each year.
Several European countries as well as Brazil and Australia are joining forces in this large-scale initiative to advance research. Current treatments have shown their limits (resistance of parasites, side effects) and there is no vaccine to protect populations from these parasitoses.
This project, led by Raymond Pierce, research director at the Lille Center for Infection and Immunity, is therefore based on the development of new drugs capable of eliminating parasites.
Enzymes toxic to parasites
The researchers are focusing on an experimental method that involves using histone-modifying enzymes (HMEs) (responsible for the structure of the parasite’s chromosomes). These enzymes cause the cell death of the parasites responsible for bilharzia. The whole question is whether they can kill the other parasites.
The work of scientists will be based on the development of a “unique platform for testing antiparasitic drugs targeting HME”, explains Inserm in a press release.
If the in vitro and in vivo tests are conclusive, the various treatments obtained could give rise to future clinical trials and save thousands of lives.
