by Hennig K, Abi‑Ghanem J, Bunescu A, Meniche X, Biliaut E, Ouattara AD, Lewis MD, Kelly JM, Braillard S, Courtemanche G, Chatelain E, Béquet F. Metabolomics 2019, 15:117. doi: 10.1007/s11306-019-1583-5
Summary: There is an urgent need to develop new drugs for Chagas disease. The authors investigated whether a metabolomic fingerprinting approach could be used to study drug mode of action on the intracellular amastigote form of T. cruzi in a parasite-host cell system. Metabolic changes induced by six different (candidate) drugs were evaluated and the impact of two drugs on polar metabolites, lipid, and proteins was analyzed to determine whether affected pathways could be identified. Three different clusters were identified, two of which can be explained by known modes of action, whereas three experimental drugs formed a separate cluster. This metabolic fingerprinting approach could potentially be applied in the early stage of drug discovery to help prioritize early leads or reconfirmed hits for further development.
