Targeting neglected diseases
Scientists at MIT and the University of São Paulo in Brazil have identified the structure of an enzyme that could be a good target for drugs combatting three diseases common in the developing world. The enzyme, fumarate hydratase (FH) is essential for metabolic processes of parasites that are responsible for the spread of three diseases: Leishmaniases, Chagas disease, and sleeping sickness. As such, understanding the enzyme’s structure could help researchers figure out how to inhibit FH enzymes, thereby providing new medical therapies. “This enzyme is really critical for the metabolism of organisms like Leishmania major,” says Catherine Drennan, an MIT professor whose lab hosted the research. “If you knock it out, the organism should be dead.” Leishmaniases are a group of diseases varying from severe skin ulcers to debilitation of internal organs, and are present in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Southern Europe. Chagas disease, located mostly in Latin America, causes cardiac and...