Systems biology and bioinformatics approaches in leishmaniasis

Abstract One of the primary problems arising worldwide is the increasing risk of parasitic disease in the developing countries. In that list, the neglected tropical diseases have been affecting the population living under poverty line with minimal living facilities. The geographical areas which are affected by these diseases are mainly subtropical and tropical regions. Leishmaniasis is a vector-borne tropical disease caused by sand fly. Twenty different species of the genus Leishmania has been identified and reported. They cause various clinical forms of leishmaniasis. Proper treatment of leishmaniasis in the developing countries is not accessible which has become a major threat to the people. Till now, vaccines are not developed and it has made treatment rely solely over chemotherapy. In addition, reduced drug efficacy in resistant strains has magnified the threat. The available drug’s toxicity, high cost, reduced activity and developed resistance have also become a challenge to handle with time. In silico techniques have given enough space to work and find the efficient drug molecules. A new dimension of research has evolved using approaches like systems biology, bioinformatics, and chemo-informatics. The target selection for the drug molecules is a crucial process which involves knowledge of pathogen life cycle. System biology based approached involves the pathways analysis and selection of the pathways which are essential for the pathogen. The in-depth pathway analysis reveals the information about crucial protein which may be inhibited to control the disease. Structure based drug design approach in bioinformatics is used to select the structured protein as a target and different computation methods are available for target validation. This chapter summaries all known systems biology and bioinformatics approaches used to drug discovery against leishmaniasis.