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

• Published in: Expert review of anti-infective therapy Vol. 7; no. 9; pp. 1087 - 1098
• Main Authors: Gardiner, Donald L, Skinner-Adams, Tina S, Brown, Christopher L, Andrews, Katherine T, Stack, Colin M, McCarthy, James S, Dalton, John P, Trenholme, Katharine R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Taylor & Francis 01.11.2009; Informa Healthcare
• Subjects: aminopeptidase; Aminopeptidases - antagonists & inhibitors; Animals; Antimalarials - chemistry; Antimalarials - pharmacology; Antimalarials - therapeutic use; Aspartic Acid Endopeptidases - antagonists & inhibitors; aspartic protease; Drug Design; Enzyme Inhibitors - chemistry; Enzyme Inhibitors - pharmacology; Enzyme Inhibitors - therapeutic use; histone deacetylase; Humans; Hypoxanthine Phosphoribosyltransferase - antagonists & inhibitors; hypoxanthine-xanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase; malaria; Malaria, Falciparum - drug therapy; Malaria, Falciparum - parasitology; molecular target; Pentosyltransferases - antagonists & inhibitors; plasmepsin; Plasmodium falciparum; Plasmodium falciparum - drug effects; Plasmodium falciparum - enzymology; Plasmodium falciparum - genetics; Protozoan Proteins - antagonists & inhibitors
• ISSN: 1478-7210; 1744-8336
• DOI: 10.1586/eri.09.93

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.