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Page 30
Cell and Gene Therapy 2018 & Clinical Microbiology Congress 2018
Biomedical Research
|
ISSN: 0976-1683
|
Volume 29
S e p t e m b e r 1 0 - 1 1 , 2 0 1 8 | D u b l i n , I r e l a n d
allied
academies
Joint Event on
CLINICAL AND MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY
CELL AND GENE THERAPY
&
World Congress on
International Conference on
Biomed Res 2018, Volume 29 | DOI: 10.4066/biomedicalresearch-C3-008
DRUG TARGET VALIDATION USING RNA INTERFERENCE APPROACH IN
SCHISTOSOMA MANSONI
Marina de Moraes Mourão
Fundção Oswaldo Cruz, Brazil
T
he
Schistosoma mansoni
genome project identified 10,852 protein-coding genes of which almost half are annotated with
unknown function. Those genes could be parasite-specific and represent genes whose biological functions are of interest for
basic and applied science. Despite of great advances in the genomic field, application of technologies for schistosomiasis control
have not kept pace; treatment of this disease still relies on a single drug and no vaccines are yet available. Therefore, extracting
meaningful functional information from the accumulated genomic data is critical to discovering new chemotherapeutics and other
novel approaches to disrupting development within the snail and human hosts. Currently, RNA interference (RNAi) is the most
effective reverse genetic tools for manipulating gene expression and determining gene function in schistosome parasites, both
in
vitro
and
in vivo
in the association with their hosts. Our group has dedicated efforts to understand the role of schistosome genes
and their encoded protein products in the host-parasite interaction, with the goal of identifying and validating promising druggable
targets. This talk aims at presenting our work applying the RNAi approach in the different parasite life cycle stages to assess the
function of diverse genes such as kinases and histone modifying enzymes, to rationally identify efficient therapeutic targets for
schistosomiasis control, as well as understanding the mechanisms by which
S mansoni
survives within its hosts.