New Targets, New Hope: Novel Drug Targets for Curbing Malaria

N.      Arora; A.      K. Banerjee

Abstract

Malaria continues to plague the tropical and subtropical regions causing high morbidity and mortality. Every year, millions die due to lack of affordable and effective anti-malarial drugs. Malaria poses significant threat to half of the worlds population and our arsenal to combat this disease is nearly empty. Pharmaceutical companies shy away from investing in research and development for anti-malarial drugs and have shunned it as non-profitable venture. In wake of emergence and spread of drug resistant malaria to newer territories, there is imperative need to develop new drugs for curbing malaria. This underscores the need of exploring new drug targets and reevaluation of existing drug targets. Availability of genome sequence of both parasite and human host has greatly facilitated the search for novel drug targets. This endeavor is complemented well by advances in functional genomics, structure - based drug design and high throughput screening methods and raises much optimism about winning this battle against malaria. This review discusses potential drug targets in the malarial parasite for designing intervention strategies and suitable chemotherapeutic agents.

Keywords: transport, Plasmodium, drug targets, resistance, apicoplast, mitochondria, proteases, membrane biosynthesis, Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, extra-chromosomal, β-hydroxyacyl-ACP, pyrazoles, Streptomyces coelicolor, of Uroporphyrinogen