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A Targeted Drug Delivery Strategy For Trypanosomiasis Towards A Diastereoselective Boronate Ester Mediated Intramolecular Diels-Alder Cycloaddition, Heeren Manoj Gordhan

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Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), commonly called African sleeping sickness, is caused by bloodstream form Trypanosoma brucei and has the potential to affect millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa. Treatments have existed for the past fifty years, but are characterized by severe adverse side-effects and poor efficacy. Trypanosomes generate ATP through glycolysis, or the metabolism of glucose, which is catalyzed by enzymes called hexokinases (TbHK1 and TbHK2) in trypanosomes. Through high-throughput screenings (HTS) and structure-activity relationships (SAR), both hexokinases could be targeted with small molecules to inhibit the first step in the glycolytic pathway of trypanosomes. Of the two hexokinases, TbHK1 …