Publications by authors named "Jaime de Mercado"

Isoniazid is an important first-line medicine to treat tuberculosis (TB). Isoniazid resistance increases the risk of poor treatment outcomes and development of multidrug resistance, and is driven primarily by mutations involving , encoding the prodrug-activating enzyme, rather than its validated target, InhA. The chemical tractability of InhA has fostered efforts to discover direct inhibitors of InhA (DIIs).

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Article Synopsis
  • - The effectiveness of the tuberculosis (TB) treatment ethionamide relies on its activation by specific oxidases, with the compound SMARt751 enhancing this process by interacting with a key regulatory protein, VirS.
  • - SMARt751 not only increased the effectiveness of ethionamide in lab tests and mouse studies, but also made the drug effective against resistant TB strains that have mutations affecting ethionamide activation.
  • - Safety tests showed that SMARt751 is safe for use, and predictions suggest that a low daily dose of it could significantly reduce the necessary dosage of ethionamide, lessening side effects while maintaining treatment efficacy.
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Background: Diarrhoea remains one of the leading causes of childhood mortality globally. Recent epidemiological studies conducted in low-middle income countries (LMICs) identified spp. as the first and second most predominant agent of dysentery and moderate diarrhoea, respectively.

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Since the appearance of resistance to the current front-line antimalarial treatments, ACTs (artemisinin combination therapies), the discovery of novel chemical entities to treat the disease is recognized as a major global health priority. From the GSK antimalarial set, we identified an aminoxadiazole with an antiparasitic profile comparable with artemisinin (1), with no cross-resistance in a resistant strains panel and a potential new mode of action. A medicinal chemistry program allowed delivery of compounds such as 19 with high solubility in aqueous media, an acceptable toxicological profile, and oral efficacy.

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Screening of the GSK corporate collection, some 1.9 million compounds, against Plasmodium falciparum (Pf), revealed almost 14000 active hits that are now known as the Tres Cantos Antimalarial Set (TCAMS). Followup work by Calderon et al.

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