Modelling mosquito infection at natural parasite densities identifies drugs targeting EF2, PI4K or ATP4 as key candidates for interrupting malaria transmission.

ABSTRACT: Eradication of malaria requires a novel type of drug that blocks transmission from the human to the mosquito host, but selection of such a drug is hampered by a lack of translational models. Experimental mosquito infections yield infection intensities that are substantially higher than observed in natural infections and, as a consequence, underestimate the drug effect on the proportion of mosquitoes that become infected. Here we introduce a novel experimental and computational method to adequately describe drug efficacy at natural parasite densities. Parameters of a beta-binomial infection model were established and validated using a large number of experimental mosquito infections at different parasite densities. Analyses of 15 experimental and marketed drugs revealed a class-specific abi

SUBMITTER: Dechering KJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5732164 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature