In Vitro Culture of Filariae

Edward Mitre and his team at the Uniformed Services University in the U.S. will develop a method for the long-term maintenance of parasitic Roundworms (filariae) in cell-free culture. Human filariae cause substantial morbidity worldwide, but current therapies are inefficient or cause harmful side effects. Additionally, the inability to maintain filariae in vitro has hampered screening efforts to identify new drugs. They will determine whether factors secreted by human endothelial cells can prolong the in vitro cell-free survival specifically of adult filariae, which are resistant to some treatments and therefore attractive targets for new therapies.