{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,8]],"date-time":"2026-06-08T16:28:59Z","timestamp":1780936139228,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,30]],"date-time":"2022-10-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1667088000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"the American University of Sharjah and University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates","award":["2201110159"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2201110159"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Antibiotics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Naegleria fowleri (N. fowleri) is a free-living, unicellular, opportunistic protist responsible for the fatal central nervous system infection, primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). Given the increase in temperatures due to global warming and climate change, it is estimated that the cases of PAM are on the rise. However, there is a current lack of awareness and effective drugs, meaning there is an urgent need to develop new therapeutic drugs. In this study, the target compounds were synthesized and tested for their anti-amoebic properties against N. fowleri. Most compounds exhibited significant amoebicidal effects against N. fowleri; for example, 1h, 1j, and 1q reduced N. fowleri\u2019s viability to 15.14%, 17.45% and 28.78%, respectively. Furthermore, the majority of the compounds showed reductions in amoeba-mediated host death. Of interest are the compounds 1f, 1k, and 1v, as they were capable of reducing the amoeba-mediated host cell death to 52.3%, 51%, and 56.9% from 100%, respectively. Additionally, these compounds exhibit amoebicidal properties as well; they were found to decrease N. fowleri\u2019s viability to 26.41%, 27.39%, and 24.13% from 100%, respectively. Moreover, the MIC50 values for 1e, 1f, and 1h were determined to be 48.45 \u00b5M, 60.87 \u00b5M, and 50.96 \u00b5M, respectively. Additionally, the majority of compounds were found to exhibit limited cytotoxicity, except for 1l, 1o, 1p, 1m, 1c, 1b, 1zb, 1z, 1y, and 1x, which exhibited negligible toxicity. It is anticipated that these compounds may be developed further as effective treatments against these devastating infections due to brain-eating amoebae.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/antibiotics11111515","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,30]],"date-time":"2022-10-30T04:57:34Z","timestamp":1667105854000},"page":"1515","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["Imidazothiazole Derivatives Exhibited Potent Effects against Brain-Eating Amoebae"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9646-6208","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ruqaiyyah","family":"Siddiqui","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Arts and Sciences, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah 26666, United Arab Emirates"},{"name":"Department of Medical Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Istinye University, Istanbul 34010, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4269-5264","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mohammed","family":"El-Gamal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medicinal Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates"},{"name":"Sharjah Institute for Medical Research, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates"},{"name":"Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anania","family":"Boghossian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Arts and Sciences, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah 26666, United Arab Emirates"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Balsam","family":"Saeed","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Sharjah Institute for Medical Research, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates"},{"name":"Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chang-Hyun","family":"Oh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center of Biomaterials, Korea Institute of Science & Technology (KIST School), Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 02792, Korea"},{"name":"Department of Biomolecular Sciences, University of Science & Technology (UST), Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34113, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mohammed","family":"Abdel-Maksoud","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Medicinal & Pharmaceutical Chemistry Department, Pharmaceutical and Drug Industries Research Division, National Research Centre (NRC), Dokki, Giza 12622, Egypt"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ahmad","family":"Alharbi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Taif University, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hasan","family":"Alfahemi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Baha University, Al-Baha 65799, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7667-8553","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Naveed","family":"Khan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Istinye University, Istanbul 34010, Turkey"},{"name":"Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1178","DOI":"10.1021\/acschemneuro.6b00232","article-title":"Naegleria fowleri: Diagnosis, pathophysiology of brain inflammation, and antimicrobial treatments","volume":"7","author":"Pugh","year":"2016","journal-title":"ACS Chem. 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