Endocrine strategies for the control of ectoparasites and insect pests.

The increasing knowledge about endocrine mechanisms in arthropods facilitates the biorational search for drugs against insect pests and parasites that interfere with arthropod hormone action. Juvenile hormone mimics have been successfully applied for about 20 years; however, resistance to juvenile hormone analogues has developed. The introduction of moulting hormone agonists, which compete for binding to the ecdysteroid receptor, is expected in the near future. Despite the considerable progress that has been achieved in peptide hormone research during the last few years, no successful insecticide is currently available, although comparisons of drugs for medical use demonstrate that in principle, successful interference with peptide hormone action is possible. The search for new drugs has been facilitated by advances in cell-culture techniques, which improve the development of suitable screening systems, and by progress in genetic engineering, which could be an important tool in the creation of new strategies for insect pest control.