Montclair, NJ -- Elephantiasis, or lymphatic filariasis, is a parasitic disease infecting more than 120 million people in the tropics. According to the World Health Organization, nearly 40 million of them are disfigured and disabled by the infectious disease. Characterized by elephantine enlarged limbs and thickened skin, lymphatic filariasis is caused by a parasite transmitted to humans by mosquito bites.
During the last five years, John Siekierka, Montclair State chemistry and biochemistry professor and director of the University’s Margaret and Herman Sokol Institute for Pharmaceutical Life Sciences, and Sokol Professor of Chemistry David Rotella, have received grant funding from Celgene Global Health (CGH), a Division of Celgene Corporation to find effective new treatments for the disease.
“New treatments are needed because the existing drugs are not completely effective and have side effects that limit their use,” said Siekierka. Determining the means by which parasites – such as Brugia malayi, the parasitic worm responsible for elephantiasis in South and Southeast Asia -- avoid host immune responses, can potentially lead to effective new therapeutic treatments.
The Sokol Institute and CGH recently renewed a formal agreement to fund this research for another year.
“We are collaboratively investigating inhibition of a parasitic protein kinase for potential treatment of lymphatic filariasis,” explained Siekierka. In addition to Celgene Global Health, University researchers are working with the Filiariasis Research Reagent Resource Center (FR3) at the University of Georgia and Drugs for Neglected Diseases, Inc. in Switzerland to find an effective new treatment for lymphatic filariasis.
Siekierka’s team had previously identified a protein kinase that the Brugia malayi worm needs to protect itself from destruction by the host’s immune system. By inhibiting this protein kinase, the parasite would succumb to host immunological attack and die.
“We have identified molecules that are now being investigated in a variety of animal models of these diseases and we have also screened new molecules and are in the process of characterizing their activity against the parasite,” he said. “The research focus is expanding beyond a single potential kinase target to include others.”
“New treatments are needed because the existing drugs are not completely effective and have side effects that limit their use,” said Siekierka. Determining the means by which parasites – such as Brugia malayi, the parasitic worm responsible for elephantiasis in South and Southeast Asia -- avoid host immune responses, can potentially lead to effective new therapeutic treatments.
The Sokol Institute and CGH recently renewed a formal agreement to fund this research for another year.
“We are collaboratively investigating inhibition of a parasitic protein kinase for potential treatment of lymphatic filariasis,” explained Siekierka. In addition to Celgene Global Health, University researchers are working with the Filiariasis Research Reagent Resource Center (FR3) at the University of Georgia and Drugs for Neglected Diseases, Inc. in Switzerland to find an effective new treatment for lymphatic filariasis.
Siekierka’s team had previously identified a protein kinase that the Brugia malayi worm needs to protect itself from destruction by the host’s immune system. By inhibiting this protein kinase, the parasite would succumb to host immunological attack and die.
“We have identified molecules that are now being investigated in a variety of animal models of these diseases and we have also screened new molecules and are in the process of characterizing their activity against the parasite,” he said. “The research focus is expanding beyond a single potential kinase target to include others.”
