In silico search of energy metabolism inhibitors for alternative leishmaniasis treatments.

Leishmaniasis is a complex disease that affects mammals and is caused by approximately 20 distinct protozoa from the genus Leishmania. Leishmaniasis is an endemic disease that exerts a large socioeconomic impact on poor and developing countries. The current treatment for leishmaniasis is complex, expensive, and poorly efficacious.

A systematic in silico search for target similarity identifies several approved drugs with potential activity against the Plasmodium falciparum apicoplast.

Most of the drugs in use against Plasmodium falciparum share similar modes of action and, consequently, there is a need to identify alternative potential drug targets. Here, we focus on the apicoplast, a malarial plastid-like organelle of algal source which evolved through secondary endosymbiosis. We undertake a systematic in silico target-based identification approach for detecting drugs already approved for clinical use in humans that may be able to interfere with the P.