Nucleoside sulfamate ML901 would take over and stop the protein production of the malaria parasite Plasmodium without harming our cells.
Malaria affects more than 200 million people worldwide every year. This infectious disease, which is transmitted by mosquitoes, still leads to many deaths; especially among children under the age of five. People are working hard to develop medicines and vaccines. A new method seems to be stopping the malaria parasite by taking over its protein production, Australian researchers recently wrote in a professional journal Science.
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Screening
The key player in the new potential malaria control is ML901. The researchers discovered the effect of this substance during a screening of more than 2300 so-called nucleoside sulfamates. Previous research has shown that members of this group of chemical compounds can hinder the growth of bacteria. Perhaps, according to the Australian team, also that of a single-celled malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum.
takeover
According to the researchers, ML901 hijacks the machinery that the malaria parasite uses to make proteins, without harming the cells of the host (the carrier of the disease). This is what the team states after experiments with human blood cells – where the malaria parasite nests, develops and causes problems – and cells from mice.
When ML901 enters the parasite, it attaches to tyrosine molecules. As a result, that amino acid cannot perform its actual task, which is to make the enzyme tyrosine-tRNA synthetase. And let that enzyme have a key role in the protein production of Plasmodium falciparum
Without the accretion of new proteins – ‘building blocks’ that fulfill numerous important cellular roles – Plasmodium almost nothing and dies. And because proteins are also essential for multiplication, there would be no new ones either Plasmodium be made more.
Resistance
Although many scientists are working on ways to contain malaria and progress has been made in recent years, the resistance of the disease makers to antimalarial drugs is increasing. That makes ML901 extra interesting, the team writes. In experiments, the substance also attacked resistant Plasmodiumtribes.
The identification of ML901 and its effect on Plasmodium is just the beginning, the researchers admit. Substantial follow-up research will still need to be done before a full-fledged anti-malaria drug is on the market – if it comes to that.
Sources: ScienceUniversity of Melbourne via phys.org
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