Introduction: Toxoplasma gondii is an opportunistic protozoan parasite responsible for toxoplasmosis. T. gondii is able to infect a wide range of hosts, particularly humans and warm-blooded animals. Toxoplasmosis can be considered as one of the most prevalent parasitic diseases affecting close to one billion people worldwide, but its current chemotherapy is still deficient and is only effective in the acute phase of the disease.
Areas covered: This review covers different approaches to toxoplasmosis chemotherapy focused on the metabolic differences between the host and the parasite. Selective action on different targets such as the isoprenoid pathway, dihydrofolate reductase, T. gondii adenosine kinase, different antibacterials, T. gondii histone deacetylase and calcium-dependent protein kinases is discussed.
Expert opinion: A new and safe chemotherapy is needed, as T. gondii causes serious morbidity and mortality in pregnant women and immunodeficient patients undergoing chemotherapy. A particular drawback of the available treatments is the lack of efficacy against the tissue cyst of the parasite. During this review a broad scope of several attractive targets for drug design have been presented. In this context, the isoprenoid pathway, dihydrofolate reductase, T. gondii histone deacetylase are promising molecular targets.