Mechanically produced schistosomula as a higher-throughput tools for phenotypic pre-screening in drug sensitivity assays: current research and future trends

• Published in: Biomarker research Vol. 4; no. 1; p. 21
• Main Authors: Tekwu, Emmanuel Mouafo, Anyan, William Kofi, Boamah, Daniel, Baffour-Awuah, Kofi Owusu, Keyetat Tekwu, Stephanie, Penlap Beng, Veronique, Nyarko, Alexander Kwadwo, Bosompem, Kwabena Mante
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 22.11.2016; BioMed Central
• Subjects: Biological assay; Drug discovery; Drug therapy; Forecasts and trends; Innovations; Review; Schistosomiasis; In vitro drug sensitivity; Mechanical transformation; Schistosomiasis; Drug discovery; Newly Transformed Schistosomula
• ISSN: 2050-7771; 2050-7771
• DOI: 10.1186/s40364-016-0075-2

It is crucial to develop new antischistosomal drugs since there is no vaccine and the whole world is relying on only a single drug for the treatment of schistosomiasis. One of the obstacles to the development of drugs is the absence of the high throughput objective screening methods to assess drug compounds efficacy. Thus for identification of new drug compounds candidates, fast and accurate in vitro assays are unavoidable and more research efforts in the field of drug discovery can target schistosomula. This review presents a substantial overview of the present state of in vitro drug sensitivity assays developed so far for the determination of anti-schistosomula activity of drug compounds, natural products and derivatives using newly transformed schistosomula (NTS). It highlights some of the challenges involved in in vitro compound screening using NTS and the way forward.