Discovery of key protein in malaria parasite opens door to novel
treatment

Date:
February 17, 2022
Source:
Universite' Laval
Summary:
An international team has discovered a protein that plays a key
biological role in a parasite that causes malaria. Deactivating
this protein reduces in vitro growth of Plasmodium falciparum,
the protozoa behind the most virulent form of the disease, by more
than 75%.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
An international team has discovered a protein that plays a key
biological role in a parasite that causes malaria. Deactivating this
protein reduces in vitro growth of Plasmodium falciparum, the protozoa
behind the most virulent form of the disease, by more than 75%. The team,
led by Professor Dave Richard of Universite' Laval, recently published
details of the discovery in the scientific journal mBio.


========================================================================== "This breakthrough could lead to the development of a treatment that
targets a function of the parasite that no malaria drug has yet
exploited," said Richard, professor in the Faculty of Medicine at
Universite' Laval and researcher at CHU de Que'bec-Universite' Laval
Research Centre.

Plasmodium falciparum is transmitted to humans through mosquito
bites. After infecting the host's liver it circulates in the blood,
hiding inside red blood cells and thereby avoiding attacks from the immune system. The parasite's main food source is hemoglobin, the protein that
carries oxygen from the red blood cells to the rest of the body. The
parasite digests the hemoglobin in structures called digestive vacuoles.

"The protein we discovered, PfPX1, is involved in transporting hemoglobin
to these digestive vacuoles," said Professor Richard. "When we deactivate PfPX1, we deprive the parasite of its main source of amino acids. This
has an impact on its growth and survival." In light of these findings,
Richard sees a potential new way to fight malaria: "We could block the parasite's PfPX1 protein from performing its functions.

Since the protein isn't present in humans, there would be decreased
risk of disrupting any important functions in the human body." Malaria continues to plague many parts of the world, including Sub-Saharan
Africa. In 2020, 241 million people contracted malaria and 627,000 died
from it. The disease mainly affects children under the age of five and
pregnant women.

Although the World Health Organization recognized the first malaria
vaccine last year, Richard thinks it is essential to continue exploring
new therapeutic avenues: "As we have seen with COVID-19, new strains can continue to emerge and threaten the effectiveness of vaccines. What's
more, strains resistant to artemisinin, the main anti-parasite drug used against malaria, have already emerged in Southeast Asia. To maintain
treatment efficacy and reduce the risk of new drug-resistant strains, it
is important to combine therapeutic approaches, as we do with AIDS. Our discovery may well have a role to play in the fight against malaria."
The authors of the mBio article are from Universite' Laval, Purdue
University, the University of Alberta, the Biology Centre of the Czech
Academy of Sciences, and the University of Notre Dame.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Universite'_Laval. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Angana Mukherjee, Marie-E`ve Crochetie`re, Audrey Sergerie,
Souad Amiar,
L. Alexa Thompson, Zeinab Ebrahimzadeh, Dominic Gagnon, Florian
Lauruol, Alexandra Bourgeois, Thomas Galaup, Ste'phanie Roucheray,
Ste'phanie Halle'e, Prasad K. Padmanabhan, Robert V. Stahelin,
Joel B. Dacks, Dave Richard. A Phosphoinositide-Binding Protein
Acts in the Trafficking Pathway of Hemoglobin in the Malaria
Parasite Plasmodium falciparum.

mBio, 2022; DOI: 10.1128/mbio.03239-21 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220217141207.htm

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