Despite the recent reductions in the global burden of malaria, this disease remains a devastating cause of death in tropical and subtropical regions. As there is no broadly effective vaccine for malaria, prevention and treatment still rely on chemotherapy. Unfortunately, emerging resistance to the gold standard artemisinin combination therapies means that new drugs with novel modes of action are urgently needed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMass-directed isolation of the CH(2)Cl(2)/CH(3)OH extract from a marine sponge of the genus Pseudoceratina resulted in the purification of a new antimalarial bromotyrosine alkaloid, psammaplysin H (1), along with the previously isolated analogs psammaplysins G (2) and F (3). The structure of 1 was elucidated following 1D and 2D NMR, and MS data analysis. All compounds were tested in vitro against the 3D7 line of Plasmodium falciparum and mammalian cell lines (HEK293 and HepG2), with 1 having the most potent (IC(50) 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHistone acetylation plays an important role in regulating gene transcription and silencing in Plasmodium falciparum. Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors, particularly those of the hydroxamate class, have been shown to have potent in vitro activity against drug-resistant and -sensitive laboratory strains of P. falciparum, raising their potential as a new class of antimalarial compounds.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe ability to accurately diagnose malaria infections, particularly in settings where laboratory facilities are not well developed, is of key importance in the control of this disease. Rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) offer great potential to address this need. Reports of significant variation in the field performance of RDTs based on the detection of Plasmodium falciparum histidine-rich protein 2 (HRP2) (PfHRP2) and of significant sequence polymorphism in PfHRP2 led us to evaluate the binding of four HRP2-specific monoclonal antibodies (MABs) to parasite proteins from geographically distinct P.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of the study was to assess whether infections with Plasmodium falciparum isolates encoding the P. falciparum chloroquine resistance transporter (pfcrt) gene K76T polymorphism, a molecular marker for chloroquine resistance, are associated with multiple infections, age, or clinical signs of malaria in a semi-immune population in a holoendemic area of Burkina Faso. The parameters of interest were investigated in 210 P.
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