Malaria breakthrough as team hone drug targets

A major breakthrough has been made in the race to find new vaccines and treatments against malaria – scientists have narrowed down the set of drug targets by a third.

Scientists from the University of Nottingham and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute have pinpointed 72 molecular switches that have control over the three key stages in the life cycle of the malaria parasite and discovered that over a third can be disrupted in some way.

“This is a major leap forward – we can now set aside these 23 functionally redundant genes,” said Dr Oliver Billker from the Sanger Institute, “This act of prioritisation alone has narrowed the set of targets for drug searches by a third.”

The research involved the very first comprehensive functional analysis of protein kinases – a family of proteins that control nearly all cellular processes and are therefore major drug targets – in any malaria parasite. The research has identified key regulators that control the transmission of the malaria parasite.

“Blocking parasite transmission is recognised as an important element in the global fight to control malaria,” said Dr Rita Tewari, lead researcher from the school of biology, “This study shows how systematic functional studies not only increase our knowledge in understanding complexity of malaria parasite development but also gives us the rational approach towards drug development.”

In future studies, Tewari will concentrate on the role of other signalling molecules like phosphatates, kinases and armadillo repeat proteins and their interaction in understanding malaria parasite development.