Computational insights into the inhibition of β-haematin crystallization by antimalarial drugs.

During the red blood cell phase of their life cycle, malaria parasites digest their host's haemoglobin, with concomitant release of potentially toxic iron(iii) protoporphyrin IX (FePPIX). The parasites' strategy for detoxification of FePPIX involves its crystallization to haemozoin, such that the build-up of free haem in solution is avoided. Antimalarial drugs of both historical importance and current clinical use are known to be capable of disrupting the growth of crystals of β-haematin, which is the synthetic equivalent of haemozoin.