The science of epigenetics, or adaptive DNA changes in response to life stressors, may have revealed a new dynamic antimalarial drug.
Plasmodium falciparum, Aka Palaria, remains the deadliest infectious disease in the face of humans, a position it has maintained for thousands of years because it causes hundreds of thousands of deaths a year.
Malaria vaccines, malaria drugs and targeted mosquito treatments have enabled remarkable progress in the control of this complex parasite with several stages, including the eradication of countries inside the belt of malaria as Egypt and CAPE VERDE.
Now, however, a multinational team has revealed a characteristic of the epigue of the parasitic of malaria which controls a series of genes. Called a chromatin remodel, with the abbreviation PFSNF2L, the team thinks that this could lead to a brand new class of antimalarial drugs.
Epigenetics is one of the main engines of life adaptation. This is why human beings who live at high altitude have more oxygenated blood than land, and why traditional divers and fishermen have greater pulmonary capacities than others in the same ethnic environment.
They are in force, a defense mechanism against stress.
Professor Markus Meißner of LMU Munich and the professor of Biochemistry Gernot Längst at the University of Regensburg led the study team, who has found how PFSNF2L is essential for P. Falciparum To dynamically adjust the expression of genes.
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“The single sequence and the functional properties of PFSNF2L have led to the identification of a very specific inhibitor which only kills plasmodium falciparum”, ” explain Längst.
“This inhibitor represents a new class of antimalarials, potentially targeting all stages of the life cycle,” adds Professor Meißner.
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Längst has described malaria as one of the most “diseases adaptable to which we face” and its potential to develop resistance to existing treatments presents the threat of a seriously demoralizing obstacle to the reduction of the Maladean burden in global society.
“Future work will focus on the test of small molecules that inhibit the parasitic epigenetic machines and exploring their effectiveness in preclinical models,” concludes Meißner.
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