Treatment of Toxoplasmosis: An Insight on Epigenetic Drugs

Abstract

Toxoplasmosis is the parasitic infection caused by the obligate intracellular parasite T. gondii. This pathogen possesses three different stages of life, namely (1) sporozoites, (2) tachyzoites (3) and bradyzoites, the slow replicating form living in tissue cysts. To date, the clinical therapy of toxoplasmosis is still based on the use of drugs developed more than 50 years ago and endowed with high toxicity and ineffectiveness against bradyzoites, preventing the complete eradication of the parasite. For these reasons, novel and more effective drugs are still necessary. Epigenetics drugs could fulfil this requirement offering novel mechanisms of action also affecting the bradyzoite stage. Here we report the inhibitors of T. gondii affecting epigenetic targets discovered in the last 25 years.