Eflornithine is a drug found to be effective in the treatment of facial hirsutism as well as in African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness). Eflornithine hydrochloride cream for topical application is meant for women suffering from facial hirsutism. Eflornithine topically applied is an irreversible inhibitor of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC), an enzyme that catalyses the conversion of ornithine to putrescine, which plays an important role in cell division and proliferation in the hair follicle. Eflornithine appears to kill trypanosomes by acting as a suicide inhibitor of the enzyme ornithine decarboxylase (EC 4.1.1.17). This enzyme regulates cell division by catalysing the first step in polyamine biosynthesis. As the inhibitor has a low half-life in humans, it is broken down rapidly while the parasite cannot metabolise it quickly enough. This means that it preferentially harms the parasite.
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