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SUMMARY:Mechanisms of drug action and drug resistance in parasitic nematod
 es
DTSTART:20100617T121500
DTSTAMP:20260916T211917Z
UID:e06d51887101327aabb2cd465d73b29e36a2a0be2c0976edc780dbcf
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Pascal Mäser - Swiss TPH\, Dpt of Parasitology & Biology of I
 nfection\, Basel\nParasitic nematodes are the causative agents of a pletho
 ra of diseases to humans\, livestock and crops. In the absence of vaccines
 \, chemotherapy remains a mainstay of nematode control. The major anthelmi
 ntics are the benzimidazoles\, imidazothiazoles (levamisole) and macrocycl
 ic lactones (ivermectin). Multidrug-resistant (mdr) parasites are jeopardi
 zing the efficacy of these drugs\, particularly for use in farm animals. G
 astrointestinal nematodes of sheep such as Haemonchus contortus were isola
 ted that withstood all of the presently used anthelmintics. In this contex
 t the new anthelmintic monepantel\, which was launched in 2009 and is acti
 ve against mdr parasites\, came as a big relief. Monepantel is an amino-ac
 etonitrile derivative of excellent tolerability to mammals. We are studyin
 g the molecular mechanisms of anthelmintic resistance in H. contortus aimi
 ng (i) to learn more about the mode of action of amino-acetonitrile deriva
 tives and to understand how they selectively kill nematodes\, and (ii) to 
 devise PCR-based tests for early recognition of potential resistance genes
  in the gene pool of the parasites in the field. We provide evidence that 
 monepantel is an allosteric activator of acetylcholine receptors of the DE
 G-3 subfamily\, a clade of ligand-gated ion channels which exclusively occ
 urs in nematodes.
LOCATION:SV 1717A
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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