Beta-Carbonic Anhydrase 1 from Trichomonas Vaginalis as New Antiprotozoan Drug Target

Abstract

Trichomonas vaginalis is a unicellular parasite responsible for trichomoniasis, which is one of the world’s leading sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The diagnosis and effective treatment of trichomoniasis has become an extremely important goal for global health, due to the increasing experimental evidences showing the relationship between trichomoniasis and other critical pathologies and the appearance of resistance to the existing pharmacological treatments. Consequently, in recent years research of novel drug targets for fighting this STI has seen an increased interest. In this scenario and considering recent experimental evidences which indicate Carbonic Anhydrases (CAs) as potential targets for the treatment of protozoan parasitic diseases, our group focused the attention on TvaCA1, a β-CA from T. vaginalis, carrying out a complete biochemical, structural, and kinetic characterization of this enzyme. In this chapter, we will summarize these studies, showing that this enzyme is a druggable target and that its selective inhibition is feasible with the aim to obtain new anti-trichomoniasis drugs.