RESEARCH ARTICLE
The trans-Sialidase from Trypanosoma cruzi a Putative Target for Trypanocidal Agents
Lucia Mendonça-Previato*, Adriane Regina Todeschini, Leonardo Freire de Lima, Jose Osvaldo Previato
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2010Volume: 4
First Page: 111
Last Page: 115
Publisher ID: TOPARAJ-4-111
DOI: 10.2174/1874421401004010111
Article History:
Received Date: 15/11/2009Revision Received Date: 5/3/2010
Acceptance Date: 8/3/2010
Electronic publication date: 10/12/2010
Collection year: 2010
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Trypanosomatid protozoa are parasites of considerable medical and economical importance because they are the causative agents of chronic human and livestock diseases endemic in developing countries. Trypanosoma cruzi is the causative agent of Chagas´ disease, present in most of Latin America. The biology of this parasite presents some unusual features, one of which is the mechanism employed for the addition of sialic acid units to its own glycoproteins, the mucinlike molecules, or to exogenous glycoconjugates. This is mediated by a transglycosylase for sialic acid known as transsialidase and located on the external surface of the parasite, rather than by an intracellular CMP-sialic acid-dependent sialyltransferase. The Trypanosoma cruzi trans-sialidase is thought to play an important role in the pathogenesis of Chagas’ disease, and it represents a potential therapeutic target.