Network-based assessment of the selectivity of metabolic drug targets in Plasmodium falciparum with respect to human liver metabolism.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The search for new drug targets for antibiotics against Plasmodium falciparum, a major cause of human deaths, is a pressing scientific issue, as multiple resistance strains spread rapidly. Metabolic network-based analyses may help to identify those parasite's essential enzymes whose homologous counterparts in the human host cells are either absent, non-essential or relatively less essential.

Results

Using the well-curated metabolic networks PlasmoNet of the parasite Plasmodium falciparum and HepatoNet1 of the human hepatocyte, the selectivity of 48 experimental antimalarial drug targets was analyzed. Applying in silico gene deletions, 24 of these drug targets were found to be perfectly selective, in that they were essential for the parasite but non-essential for t

SUBMITTER: Bazzani S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3543272 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature