Despite their large size, protozoan parasites are particularly adept at avoiding the unwanted attention of their hosts. This remarkable ability highlights the need for equally clever strategies to prevent and treat infection. With parasitic diseases such asmalaria and sleeping sickness affecting manymillions in the developing world, recent research in genetics and cell biology provides us with ...

Myristoylation is a lipid modification involving the addition of a 14-carbon unsaturated fatty acid, myristic acid, to the N-terminal glycine of a subset of proteins, a modification that promotes their binding to cell membranes for varied biological functions. The process is catalyzed by myristoyl-CoA:protein N-myristoyltransferase (NMT), an enzyme which has been validated as a drug target in h...

Leishmaniasis is a group of diseases caused by protozoan parasites of the Leishmania genus. Previous studies have shown that a DNA vaccine encoding Leishmania donovani antigen nucleoside hydrolase 36 and L. mexicana glycoprotein 63 is protective in mice. We investigated here the efficacy of this DNA vaccine to induce protection in golden hamsters. Male hamsters were more susceptible to infectio...

Backgrounds and Aims: The protozoan parasites of the genus Leishmania can be stated as the causative agents of the various clinical diseases. Fetal Calf Serum (FCS) is the major part of the Leishmania culture media, which is the most expensive ingredient in these media. The coconut water is packed with nutrients that yield an array of health benefits. Materials and Methods: In the present st...

Acanthamoeba is a protozoan pathogen that is responsible for two recognized diseases; i) a blinding keratitis, most commonly associated with contact lens wear, and ii) a rare but fatal granulomatous encephalitis that usually is limited to immunocompromised patients. The fact that Acanthamoeba infections are generally limited to avascular cornea or immunocompromised patients suggests that the no...

Malaria is one of the most widespread, potentially fatal infectious diseases. It is a tropical disease caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Plasmodium. It is the major cause of morbidity and mortality in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. An estimated 300-500 million clinical cases of malaria occur each year globally. Approximately half of the world's population is at risk of ...

According to both definitions of US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention World Health Organization, Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) are a group preventable treatable parasitic, viral, bacterial diseases that affect more than one billion people globally. They generally afflict the indigent patients world historically have not received as much attention other diseases. NTDs tend thrive i...

Other protozoan infections with medical and veterinary significance include those transmitted by ticks, such as babesiosis theileriosis. The burden of diseases is expected to increase globally due the lack approved vaccines, ineffective treatments, evolution medication resistance, globalization climate change, a general neglect parasitic diseases. Researchers must therefore make further efforts...

Trypanosomatids are causative agents of several devastating tropical diseases such as African sleeping sickness, Chagas' disease and leishmaniasis. There are no effective vaccines available to date for treatment of these protozoan diseases, while current drugs have limited efficacy, significant toxicity and suffer from increasing resistance. Trypanosomatids have several remarkable and unique me...