Receptor-mediated endocytosis for drug delivery in African trypanosomes: fulfilling Paul Ehrlich's vision of chemotherapy

•Receptor-mediated endocytosis should be exploited for drug delivery.•This builds upon Paul Ehrlich's 100-year-old ‘chemioreceptor’ theory.•ISG75 and the HpHb receptor serve as starting points for these studies.

Bloodstream-form cells of Trypanosoma brucei exhibit massively increased endocytic activity relative to the insect midgut stage, enabling rapid recycling of variant surface glycoprotein and antibody clearance from the surface. In addition, recent advances have identified a role for receptor-mediated endocytosis in the uptake of the antitrypanosomal drug, suramin, via invariant surface glycoprotein 75, and in the uptake of trypanosome lytic factor 1 via haptoglobin–haemoglobin receptor. Here, we argue that receptor-mediated endocytosis represents both a validated drug target and a promising route for the delivery of novel therapeutics into trypanosomes.