Atorvastatin drug plus zoledronic acid may help treat toxoplasmosis

In continuation of my update on Atorvastatin and Zoledronic acid

Researchers at the University of Georgia have discovered that a combination of two commonly prescribed drugs used to treat high cholesterol and osteoporosis may serve as the foundation of a new treatment for toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii. They published their findings recently in PLOS Pathogens.

Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite capable of infecting nearly all warm-blooded animals. While healthy human adults usually suffer no lasting ill effects from infection, it can be harmful or fatal to unborn fetuses or those with weakened immune systems.

"For many years, therapies for toxoplasmosis have focused on drugs that target only the parasite," said Silvia Moreno, senior author of the article and professor of cellular biology in UGA's Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. "But in this paper, we show how we can hit the parasite with two drugs simultaneously, one that affects body chemistry in the host and one that affects the parasite."

The UGA researchers discovered that a combination of the cholesterol lowering drugatorvastatin and osteoporosis medication zoledronic acid, both more commonly known by their respective trade names, Lipitor and Zometa, produce changes in the mammalian host and in the parasite that ultimately block parasite replication and spread of the infection.

"These two drugs have a strong synergy," said Moreno, who is also a member of UG

A's Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases. "The mice we treated were cured from a lethal infection using this combination approach."

Moreno and her colleagues began working on this drug combination following a series of experiments with unexpected results. They created a genetically modified version of the parasite in the laboratory that lacked a specific enzyme essential for one of the organism's most basic functions.

Atorvastatin drug plus zoledronic acid may help treat toxoplasmosis

Ingredient (Triclosan) in soap points toward new drugs for Toxoplasmosis !

We know that, Triclosan (see structure)  is an antibacterial ingredient in some soaps, toothpastes, odor-fighting socks, and even computer keyboards. Now researchers lead by Dr. Rima McLeod from The University of Chicago, have come up with interesting findings about this drug, i.e., triclosan's molecular structure can be used as  the model for developing other potential medications for toxoplasmosis. 

In the study, Rima McLeod and colleagues point out that toxoplasmosis is one of the world's most common parasitic infections (spread by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii,  T. gondii), from contact with feces from infected cats, eating raw or undercooked meat, and in other ways. Many have no symptoms because their immune systems keep the infection under control and the parasite remains inactive. But it can cause eye damage and other problems, even becoming life threatening in individuals with immune systems weakened by certain medications and diseases like HIV infection, which allow the parasite to become active again, and in some persons without immune compromise. Most current treatments have some potentially harmful side effects and none of them attack the parasite in its inactive stage.

The scientists knew from past research that triclosan has a powerful effect in blocking the action of a key enzyme that T. gondii uses to live. As per the claim by the researchers, Triclosan, however, cannot be used as a medication because it does not dissolve in the blood, how ever  one can use triclosan's molecular structure as the model for developing other potential medications, including some that show promise as more effective treatments for the disease.  Hope this research will lead to a better drug than Triclosan without any carcinogenecity and many other side effects associated with this drug..

Ref : http://pubs.acs.org/stoken/presspac/presspac/abs/10.1021/jm9017724