ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2015
Repurposing auranofin as a lead candidate for treatment of lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 60 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
60 citing papers in PubMed, 106 citations in OpenAlex.
- Deep phenotypic profiling uncovers cryptic effects of antifilarial drugs.PLoS pathogens · 2026Article
- Deep phenotypic profiling uncovers cryptic effects of antifilarial drugs.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Onchocerciasis overview: pathogenesis, clinical spectrum, and therapeutic challenges of a neglected tropical disease.Frontiers in parasitology · 2026Review
- Old drugs, new weapons: current trends in repurposing therapies against antimicrobial resistance.Journal of pharmacy & pharmaceutical sciences : a publication of the Canadian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Societe canadienne des sciences pharmaceutiques · 2026Review
- Crystal structure and polymorphic forms of auranofin revisited.RSC advances · 2025Article
- The "Doorstop Pocket" In Thioredoxin Reductases─An Unexpected Druggable Regulator of the Catalytic Machinery.Journal of medicinal chemistry · 2024Review
- Antifungal and Antiparasitic Activities of Metallocene-Containing Fluconazole Derivatives.ACS infectious diseases · 2024Article
- Repurposed Drugs That Activate Autophagy in Filarial Worms Act as Effective Macrofilaricides.Pharmaceutics · 2024Article
- Gold(I) ion and the phosphine ligand are necessary for the anti-Microbiology spectrum · 2024Article
- Drug Repurposing in the Chemotherapy of Infectious Diseases.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Discovery of New Broad-Spectrum Anti-Infectives for Eukaryotic Pathogens Using Bioorganometallic Chemistry.Journal of medicinal chemistry · 2023Article
- A genome-scale metabolic model of parasitic whipworm.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Non-covalent inhibitors of thioredoxin glutathione reductase with schistosomicidal activity in vivo.Nature communications · 2023Article
- A Broad Spectrum Antiparasitic Activity of Organotin (IV) Derivatives and Its Untargeted Proteomic Profiling UsingPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Aspartyl Protease Inhibitors as Anti-Filarial Drugs.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Biochemical and structural characterizations of thioredoxin reductase selenoproteins of the parasitic filarial nematodes Brugia malayi and Onchocerca volvulus.Redox biology · 2022Article
- The Current Directions of Searching for Antiparasitic Drugs.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Pyrvinium Pamoate and Structural Analogs Are Early Macrofilaricide Leads.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Anti-Onchocercal Properties of Extracts ofJournal of tropical medicine · 2022Article
- Current perspective of new anti-Wolbachial and direct-acting macrofilaricidal drugs as treatment strategies for human filariasis.GMS infectious diseases · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
25 authors at 9 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Two major human diseases caused by filariid nematodes are onchocerciasis, or river blindness, and lymphatic filariasis, which can lead to elephantiasis. The drugs ivermectin, diethylcarbamazine (DEC), and albendazole are used in control programs for these diseases, but are mainly effective against the microfilarial stage and have minimal or no effect on adult worms. Adult Onchocerca volvulus and Brugia malayi worms (macrofilariae) can live for up to 15 years, reproducing and allowing the infection to persist in a population. Therefore, to support control or elimination of these two diseases, effective macrofilaricidal drugs are necessary, in addition to current drugs. In an effort to identify macrofilaricidal drugs, we screened an FDA-approved library with adult worms of Brugia spp. and Onchocerca ochengi, third-stage larvae (L3s) of Onchocerca volvulus, and the microfilariae of both O. ochengi and Loa loa. We found that auranofin, a gold-containing drug used for rheumatoid arthritis, was effective in vitro in killing both Brugia spp. and O. ochengi adult worms and in inhibiting the molting of L3s of O. volvulus with IC50 values in the low micromolar to nanomolar range. Auranofin had an approximately 43-fold higher IC50 against the microfilariae of L. loa compared with the IC50 for adult female O. ochengi, which may be beneficial if used in areas where Onchocerca and Brugia are co-endemic with L. loa, to prevent severe adverse reactions to the drug-induced death of L. loa microfilariae. Further testing indicated that auranofin is also effective in reducing Brugia adult worm burden in infected gerbils and that auranofin may be targeting the thioredoxin reductase in this nematode.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.