Alvaro Acosta-Serrano

Seminar Details

Host: Dr. Jorge Cruz-Reyes

Time: 4:00-5:00 pm

Location: BCBP Rm 108

Seminar Abstract

A promising approach to interrupting the transmission of insect-borne diseases, successfully applied in veterinary medicine, involves repurposing antiparasitic drugs that render vertebrate blood toxic to blood-feeding insects. Our research, alongside findings from others, has identified 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD)—a key enzyme in the tyrosine detoxification pathway—as crucial for the survival of blood-feeding insects. Building on the success of drug repurposing, we have demonstrated that human blood containing nitisinone, an FDA-approved HPPD inhibitor used to treat rare tyrosine metabolism disorders, is lethal to insect vectors, including the malaria-transmitting mosquito, Anopheles gambiae.

In this seminar, I will present both published and unpublished data that validate the genetic and pharmacological targeting of this pathway, highlighting its potential as a druggable target. By disrupting tyrosine metabolism in insects, we could significantly reduce the transmission of malaria and vector-borne neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in endemic regions.

1. Haines LR, Trett A. et al., (2024). ‘Nitisinone’s mosquitocidal properties hold promise for malaria control”. Sci. Trans Med., in press.

2. Sterkel M., Haines LR. et al., (2021) ‘Repurposing the orphan drug nitisinone to control the transmission of African trypanosomiasis’. PLoS Biol. 19(1): e3000796 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000796.