Conference Agenda
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P2: Elsevier Plenary Lecture Series International Journal for Parasitology: Drugs and Drug Resistance (IJP:DDR) Invited Lecturer
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Progress understanding the mechanism of action of praziquantel yields opportunity for development of novel anthelmintics Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI 53226 The drug praziquantel (PZQ) has been used for over 40 years to treat many parasitic worm infections, and serves as the key clinical therapy for schistosomiasis. Our laboratory has proposed that the target of PZQ is a parasite ion channel belonging to the transient receptor potential melastatin (TRPM) subfamily, named TRPMPZQ. Structural insight across orthologs of TRPMPZQ in different parasites provides opportunity to expand our toolbox of ligands at these targets, which in turn provides new approaches to modulating parasitic flatworm biology and understanding the endogenous role played these fascinating channel throughout the parasitic lifecycle. In this presentation, I will discuss our emerging understanding of the workings of TRPMPZQ, highlight new opportunities for targeting TRPMPZQ and other members of the TRPM family for the purpose of developing new anthelmintics, and speculate on how identification of TRPMPZQ informs the likelihood and possible trajectories toward clinical resistance to PZQ. | ||