A new study has shed further light on how malaria parasites survive in the bloodstream by identifying a key protein, called a protein kinase, that if targeted, can stop the disease.
Although malaria can be treated if diagnosed early on, the life-threatening disease still currently infects more than 200 million people worldwide and accounts for more than 500,000 deaths per year according to the World Health Organization.
The disease is traditionally transferred by parasites that live within infected mosquitoes, which are transmitted to humans by mosquito bites.
The study, published in Nature Communications, and funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and Wellcome Trust, utilized state of the art methods to examine the complex biochemical pathways parasites used to enter red blood cells and survive within them. One such method explored was chemical genetics, in which synthetic chemicals are used in combination with introducing changes to the DNA of the parasite.
Researchers identified a particular protein kinase, called PfPKG, as an essential pathway for the parasite’s survival within the bloodstream. By understanding which protein is required for the parasite to infect and survive, the scientists were able to prevent the protein from working, killing the parasite and stopping the disease from developing.
The study was co-authored by Prof. David Baker from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Prof. Andrew Tobin from the MRC Toxicology Unit. The latter described the result as a real breakthrough in the fight against malaria.
He said:
“This is a real breakthrough in our understanding of how malaria survives in they bloodstream and invades red blood cells. We’ve revealed a process that allows this to happen and if it can be targeted by drugs we could something that stops malaria in its tracks without causing toxic side effects.”
The research follows a 2012 study conducted by Rob Dzikowoski and colleagues from the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, where they were first able to identify the genetic mechanism that parasites used to selectively express one protein while hiding from others.
The treatment for malaria has improved rapidly within the last decade. Since 2000, malaria mortality rates have fallen by over 25%, however, a January 2015 report published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases found that the rise of Ebola, may have led to 74,000 untreated cases of malaria. The study, conducted in Guinea, was the first systematic analysis of outpatient health following the Ebola epidemic.
Prof. Patrick Maxwell, chair of the MRC’s Molecular and Cellular Medicine Board, admitted malaria still poses a “global challenge.” He said:
“Tackling malaria is a global challenge, with the parasite continually working to find ways to survive our drug treatments. By combining a number of techniques to piece together how the malaria parasite survives, this study opens the door on potential new treatments that could find and exploit the disease’s weak spots but with limited side effects for patients.”