Advances in omics-based methods to identify novel targets for malaria and other parasitic protozoan infections

Table 1 Overview of the protozoan pathogens highlighted in this review

Pathogen	Disease(s) caused	Current treatments	Mechanism of action
Plasmodium falciparum	Malaria	4-Aminoquinolines (chloroquine, amodiaquine, piperaquine)	Inhibit heme detoxification
		8-Aminoquinolones (primaquine, tafenaquine)	Unknown
		Aryl amino-alcohols (lumefantrine, mefloquine)	Inhibit heme detoxification
		Antifolate drugs (proguanil, pyrimethamine, sulfadoxine)	Inhibit folate synthesis
		Antibiotics (doxycycline, clindamycin)	Inhibit protein synthesis
		Napthoquinones (atovaquone)	Inhibit cytochrome bc₁ complex
		Artemisinin compounds (artemisinin, artemether, dihydroartemisinin)	Oxidative stress
Trypanosoma	Chagas disease	Nitroheterocyclic drugs (nifurtimox, benznidazole)	Oxidative stress
	Sleeping sickness	Pentamidine	Disrupts mitochondrial processes
		Melarsoprol	Inhibits trypanosomal redox metabolism and glycolysis
		Suramin	Disrupts trypanosomal redox metabolism and glycolysis
		Eflornithine	Inhibition of ornithine decarboxylase
Leishmania	Cutaneous, visceral, or mucosal leishmaniasis	Pentavalent antimonial compounds	Unclear
		Amphotericin B	Targets the main parasite membrane sterol
		Miltefosine	Interferes with cell membrane composition
		Paromomycin	Inhibits protein synthesis
Toxoplasma	Flu-like illness, disseminated infection, congenital infection	Pyrimethamine	Inhibit folate synthesis
Toxoplasma		Sulfadiazine	Inhibit folate synthesis

For more detailed information on treatments, mechanisms of action, and mechanisms of resistance for each pathogen, please refer to the following literature: P. falciparum [3], Trypanosoma [4,5,6,7], Leishmania [8,9,10,11], and Toxoplasma [12, 13]

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