Prediction of the P. falciparum target space relevant to malaria drug discovery.

ABSTRACT: Malaria is still one of the most devastating infectious diseases, affecting hundreds of millions of patients worldwide. Even though there are several established drugs in clinical use for malaria treatment, there is an urgent need for new drugs acting through novel mechanisms of action due to the rapid development of resistance. Resistance emerges when the parasite manages to mutate the sequence of the drug targets to the extent that the protein can still perform its function in the parasite but can no longer be inhibited by the drug, which then becomes almost ineffective. The design of a new generation of malaria drugs targeting multiple essential proteins would make it more difficult for the parasite to develop full resistance without lethally disrupting some of its vital functions. The

SUBMITTER: Spitzmuller A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3798273 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature