Plasmodium falciparum : new molecular targets with potential for antimalarial drug development

Donald L. Gardiner, Tina S. Skinner-Adams, Christopher L. Brown, Katherine T. Andrews, Colin M. Stack, James S. McCarthy, John P. Dalton, Katharine R. Trenholme

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

35 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Malaria remains one of the world's most devastating infectious diseases. Drug resistance to all classes of antimalarial agents has now been observed, highlighting the need for new agents that act against novel parasite targets. The complete sequencing of the Plasmodium falciparum genome has allowed the identification of new molecular targets within the parasite that may be amenable to chemotherapeutic intervention. In this review, we investigate four possible targets for the future development of new classes of antimalarial agents. These targets include histone deacetylase, the aspartic proteases or plasmepsins, aminopeptidases and the purine salvage enzyme hypoxanthine-xanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1087-1098
Number of pages12
JournalExpert Review of Anti-infective Therapy
Volume7
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2009

Keywords

  • Plasmodium falciparum
  • aminopeptidases
  • antimalarials
  • aspartic proteinases
  • drug effects
  • histone deacetylase
  • malaria
  • pharmacology

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