A new breakthrough study co-authored by Prof. David Baker from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Prof. Andrew Tobin from the MRC Toxicology Unit has shed light on how malaria parasites survive in the bloodstream. They have identified a key protein, called a protein kinase, that if targeted, can stop the disease from spreading, as it is an essential pathway for the parasite's survival within the bloodstream.
The study, published in Nature Communications, and funded by the Medical Research Council and Wellcome Trust, utilized state of the art methods to examine the complex biochemical pathways parasites used to enter red blood cells and survive within them. One such method explored was chemical genetics, in which synthetic chemicals are used in combination with introducing changes to the DNA of the parasite.
Researchers identified a particular protein kinase, called PfPKG, as an essential pathway for the parasite's survival within the bloodstream. By understanding which protein is required for the parasite to infect and survive, the scientists were able to prevent the protein from working, killing the parasite and stopping the disease from developing.
Prof. Patrick Maxwell, chair of the MRC's Molecular and Cellular Medicine Board, admitted malaria still poses a "global challenge." He said:
"Tackling malaria is a global challenge, with the parasite continually working to find ways to survive our drug treatments. By combining a number of techniques to piece together how the malaria parasite survives, this study opens the door on potential new treatments that could find and exploit the disease's weak spots but with limited side effects for patients."
Although malaria can be treated if diagnosed early on, the disease is life-threatening and currently infects more than 200 million people worldwide and accounts for more than 500,000 deaths per year. The disease is traditionally transferred by parasites that live within infected mosquitoes, which are transmitted to humans by mosquito bites.
Malaria is caused by a parasite called Plasmodium, which is most commonly transmitted via the bites of a female Anopheles mosquito that is carrying the disease. In the human body, the parasite multiplies in the liver, and then infects red blood cells. The most common forms of parasite that affect humans are plasmodium falciparum, plasmodium vivax, plasmodium knowlesi, and plasmodium malariae.
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