Presente y Futuro en el Descubrimiento de Fármacos para la Enfermedad de Chagas

Chagas disease, also known as American trypanosomiasis, is caused by infection with the Trypanosoma cruzi. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) estimates that 7.7 million persons currently have T cruzi infection in the 21 endemic countries. This disease can be transmitted to humans by insect vectors that are found only in the American continent, mainly, in rural areas with unhealthy housing conditions where poverty is a general concern. Nifurtimox and benznidazole are the only drugs used against this disease however sometimes they are not available. The treatment of Chagas disease with nifurtimox or benznidazole is unsatisfactory because of their limited efficacy on the prevalent chronic stage of the disease and their toxic side effects. It is, therefore, necessary the development of new effective antichagasic drugs for the suitable treatment of this disease. The development of new drugs for Chagas disease requires a multidisciplinary approach involving diverse disciplines such as molecular and cellular biology, chemistry, bioinformatics, biochemistry, pharmacology and toxicology. This revision describes the diferents strategies used for drug discovery on chagas disease treatment. The most classic stratetis as the design of analogous, sreening or biological information as well as the methods based on chemiinformatics have been discussed in this work.