A new drug for malaria targets plastids

Abstract

Malaria is responsible for over 2 million deaths world wide each year. Malaria in humans is caused by four species of a protozoal parasite called Plasmodium. Plasmodia contain organelles called plastids that are also found in many plants and algae. Plastids make an excellent target for anti-malarial drugs because they have metabolic pathways that are different from humans. A team of Indian scientists reported that they have found an antibacterial drug, Triclosan, to be effective against infection by Plasmodium berghei in mice and is a potent inhibitor of Plasmodium falciparum in culture. This drug targets an enzyme involved in fatty acid biosynthetic pathway in plastids. Triclosan, already used as a topical antibacterial agent, is very attractive as an antimalaria therapy as resistance to it is not commonly observed. [Surolia, N. and Surolia, A. (2001) Nat. Med. 7, 167–173] AP