Insights into Chagas treatment based on the potential of bacteriocin AS-48 Martín-Escolano, Rubén Cebrián, Rubén Martín Escolano, Javier Rosales Lombardo, María José Maqueda Abreu, Mercedes Sánchez Moreno, Manuel Marín Sánchez, Clotilde Antichagasic agent Drug discovery Trypanosoma cruzi AS-48 Chagas disease caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi represents a significant public health problem in Latin America, affecting around 8 million cases worldwide. Nowadays is urgent the identification of new antichagasic agents as the only therapeutic options available, Nifurtimox and Benznidazole, are in use for>40 years, and present high toxicity, limited efficacy and frequent treatment failures in the chronic phase of the disease. Recently, it has been described the antiparasitic effect of AS-48, a bacteriocin produced by Enterococcus faecalis, against Trypanosoma brucei and Leishmania spp. In this work, we have demonstrated the in vitro potential of the AS-48 bacteriocin against T. cruzi. Interesting, AS-48 was more effective against the three morphological forms of different T. cruzi strains, and displayed lower cytotoxicity than the reference drug Benznidazole. In addition, AS-48 combines the criteria established as a potential antichagasic agent, resulting in a promising therapeutic alternative. According to the action mechanism, AS-48 trypanocidal activity could be explained in a mitochondrion-dependent manner through a reactive oxygen species production and mitochondrial depolarization, causing a fast and severe bioenergetic collapse. 2020-04-21T11:56:24Z 2020-04-21T11:56:24Z 2019-03-29 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Martín-Escolano, R., Cebrián, R., Martín-Escolano, J., Rosales, M. J., Maqueda, M., Sánchez-Moreno, M., & Marín, C. (2019). Insights into Chagas treatment based on the potential of bacteriocin AS-48. International Journal for Parasitology: Drugs and Drug Resistance, 10, 1-8. http://hdl.handle.net/10481/61428 10.1016/j.ijpddr.2019.03.003 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 España Elsevier Inc.