ABOVE: An Alzheimer’s drug reduces infection in murine macrophages infected with Trypanosoma cruzi (blue dots).
ARIEL SILBER
The paper
H.F. Santos Souza et al., “The effect of memantine, an antagonist of the NMDA glutamate receptor, in in vitro and in vivo infections by Trypanosoma cruzi,” PLOS Negl Trop Dis, 13: e0007226, 2019.
In 2014, researchers led by Ariel Mariano Silber at the University of São Paulo in Brazil showed that the Alzheimer’s drug memantine killed Trypanosoma cruzi, the parasite that causes Chagas disease, in vitro. Now, Silber and his colleagues report evidence that the treatment can reduce T. cruzi infection in mice and in cultured murine macrophages, suggesting it might be a viable option for patients in parts of Central and South America where Chagas is widespread.
The two drugs currently used to treat Chagas disease, nifurtimox and benznidazole, are most effective early on, often before patients realize they are infected. ...
