Novel Therapeutic Targets for Human African Trypanosomiasis

Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) or sleeping sickness is one of the neglected tropic diseases caused by Trypanosoma brucei and endemic in sub-saharan Africa. HAT affects half a million people every year in Africa and is fatal, if untreated. Although the number of cases have dropped in recent years, but still there is a strong need to identify and validate new therapeutic targets for trypanosomiasis. Treatment of HAT poses several challenges due to the availability of few drugs and their associated risks like limited efficacy, toxicity, lack of selectivity, stage specificity, and drug resistance. Overcoming these key issues can be explored by identification of some novel targets. Recently, various trypanosomatid biochemical pathways and enzymes have been identified as novel targets for anti-parasitic drug development. New approaches like proteomics and high-throughput phenotypic screening have bridged the gap between the development of new anti-HAT drugs and challenges associated with their development. The present review focuses on novel targets for HAT that hold great promise for elucidating new mechanisms for anti-parasitic action.