Molecular and Cellular Biology of Pathogenic Trypanosomatids (Frontiers in Parasitology) (PDF)

Every year, millions of people residing in tropical areas around the world are affected by trypanosomatids – the parasites that cause Chagas disease, African trypanosomiasis, and leishmaniasis. These diseases are classified by WHO as neglected tropical diseases because there are no effective vaccines against them, and the few available treatments have many side effects, in addition to the risk of emerging drug-resistant parasite strains. All of these factors represent a significant challenge and impose a considerable economic burden on public health systems. Many research initiatives have emerged in recent years aimed at revealing parasitic molecular and cellular biology, parasite-host interactions, mechanisms of disease pathogenesis, molecular mechanisms of drug resistance, all of which are essential for the development of novel anti-parasite treatments and eradication strategies. This volume highlights recent discoveries in the field of trypanosomatid molecular and cellular biology. Topics covered include cell organization during development, genome organization and maintenance, control of gene expression, nuclear and kinetoplast DNA replication, mechanisms of DNA damage repair, virulence factors and immune evasion, new methods for molecular diagnosis, new therapeutic tools, and recombinant vaccine biology. This monograph will be of interest to undergraduates (premedical and biologists), graduates (masters and Ph.D. students), the parasitology research community, and researchers working in related fields.