Malaria and Cancer: a critical review on the established associations and new perspectives

• Published in: Infectious agents and cancer Vol. 16; no. 1; p. 33
• Main Authors: Ellis, Toby, Eze, Elvis, Raimi-Abraham, Bahijja Tolulope
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 13.05.2021; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Artemisinin; Asia; Burkitt's lymphoma; Cancer; Cancer therapies; Cervical cancer; Chemotherapy; Circumsporozoite protein; Comorbidity; Disease prevention; Drug resistance; Epstein-Barr virus; Health aspects; Health care; Immunization; Infections; Lymphoma; Lymphomas; Malaria; Medical screening; Mortality; Neutropenia; Oncology, Experimental; Review; Tobacco; Asia; North America; Europe; Africa; Burkitt’s lymphoma; Epstein-Barr virus; Malaria; Comorbidity; Cancer; Neutropenia
• ISSN: 1750-9378; 1750-9378
• DOI: 10.1186/s13027-021-00370-7

Cancer and malaria both have high incidence rates and are leading causes of mortality worldwide, especially in low and middle-income countries with reduced access to the quality healthcare. The objective of this critical review was to summarize key associations and new perspectives between the two diseases as is reported in existing literature. A critical review of research articles published between 1st January 2000 - 1st July 2020 which yielded 1753 articles. These articles were screened based on a precise inclusion criteria. Eighty-nine eligible articles were identified and further evaluated. Many articles reported anti-cancer activities of anti-malarial medicines, including Artemisinin and its derivatives. Other articles investigated the use of chemotherapy in areas burdened by malaria, treatment complications that malaria may cause for cancer patients as well as ways to circumvent cancer related drug resistance. Potential novel targets for cancer treatment, were identified namely oncofoetal chondroitin sulphate and haem, as well as the use of circumsporozoite proteins. A number of articles also discussed Burkitt lymphoma or febrile neutropenia. Overall, excluding for Burkitt lymphoma, the relationship between cancer and malaria requires further extensive research in order to define association. There great potential promising new novel anti-cancer therapies using anti-malarial drugs. Created using BioRender.