Targeting the vitamin biosynthesis pathways for the treatment of malaria

Autor(es)

Kronenberger, Thales ^[1] ; Schettert, Isolmar ^[2] ; Wrenger, Carsten ^[1]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Biomed Sci, Dept Parasitol, Unit Drug Discovery, BR-00508000 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[2] Heart Inst InCor, Lab Genet & Mol Cardiol, BR-05403000 Sao Paulo - Brazil

• Tipo de documento: Artigo de Revisão
• Fonte: Future Medicinal Chemistry; v. 5, n. 7, p. 769-779, MAY 2013.
• Citações Web of Science: 4

Resumo

The most severe form of malaria is Malaria tropica, caused by Plasmodium falciparum. There are more than I billion people that are exposed to malaria parasites leading to more than 500,000 deaths annually. Vaccines are not available and the increasing drug resistance of the parasite prioritizes the need for novel drug targets and chemotherapeutics, which should be ideally designed to target selectively the parasite. In this sense, parasite-specific pathways, such as the vitamin biosyntheses, represent perfect drug-target characteristics because they are absent in humans. In the past, the vitamin B9 (folate) metabolism has been exploited by antifolates to treat infections caused by malaria parasites. Recently, two further vitamin biosynthesis pathways - for the vitamins B6 (pyridoxine) and B1 (thiamine) - have been identified in Plasmodium and analyzed for their suitability to discover new drugs. In this review, the current status of the druggability of plasmodial vitamin biosynthesis pathways is summarized. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 11/13706-3 - Implicações estruturais de mutantes da piridoxina quinase de Plasmodium falciparum e investigação das suas regiões espaçadoras
• Beneficiário: Thales Kronenberger
• Linha de fomento: Bolsas no Brasil - Mestrado
• Processo FAPESP: 10/20647-0 - Metabolismo de vitamina B no parasita da malária humana Plasmodium falciparum e a sua validação como alvo para quimioterapia
• Beneficiário: Carsten Wrenger
• Linha de fomento: Bolsas no Brasil - Apoio a Jovens Pesquisadores
• Processo FAPESP: 09/54325-2 - Elucidation of vitamin B metabolism in the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum and their validation as a target for chemotherapy
• Beneficiário: Carsten Wrenger
• Linha de fomento: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Apoio a Jovens Pesquisadores