Moxidectin

EN Texto en inglés Aún no hay artículo en tu idioma: extracto en inglés.

Moxidectin is an anthelmintic drug used in animals to prevent or control parasitic worms (helminths), such as heartworm and intestinal worms, in dogs, cats, horses, cattle, sheep and wombats. Moxidectin kills some of the most common internal and external parasites by selectively binding to a parasite's glutamate-gated chloride ion channels. These channels are vital to the function of invertebrate nerve and muscle cells; when moxidectin binds to the channels, it disrupts neurotransmission, resulting in paralysis and death of the parasite. Moxidectin is a therapeutic alternative on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines. Moxidectin was approved for onchocerciasis (river-blindness) in 2018 for people over the age of 11 in the United States based on two studies. There is a need for additional trials, with long-term follow-up, to assess whether moxidectin is safe and effective for treatment of nematode infection in children and women of childbearing potential. Moxidectin is predicted to be helpful to achieve elimination goals of this disease. Nematodes can develop cross-resistance between moxidectin and other similar parasiticides, such as ivermectin, doramectin and abamectin. The ways in which the parasites evolve resistance to this drug include mutations in glutamate-gated chloride channel genes, GABA-R genes, or increased expression of p-glycoprotein, which is a transmembrane drug efflux pump. Allele frequency changes corresponding to resistance to moxidectin and/or other macrocyclic lactone-class drugs have been observed in the glutamate-gated chloride channel α-subunit gene of Haemonchus contortus and Cooperia oncophora, as well as in the H. contortus genes coding for p-glycoprotein and the GABA-R gene.