Anti-malarial drugs

A parasite gene may be responsible for resistance to several other anti-malarial drugs.

A team of researchers have reported in the latest issue of the journal 'Molecular Cell' that a malaria parasite gene called pfcrt, already confirmed as the culprit behind resistance to the drug chloroquine in the malaria species Plasmodium falciparum, may be responsible for resistance to several other anti-malarial drugs too.

"The discovery of pfcrt's central role in malarial drug resistance could help in the development of new therapeutic strategies that are effective against chloroquine-resistant parasites," said David Fidock of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, one of the lead authors of the study.

Chloroquine is one of the most affordable and widely used anti-malarial drugs available, but chloroquine-resistant malaria has become an increasingly serious problem in the developing world, with death rates rising as a consequence.

The experiments conducted by Fidock and colleagues indicate that previously unknown mutations in the pfrct gene are associated with Plasmodium falciparum's resistance to halofantrine and amantadine. The two drugs are used to treat mild to moderate cases of chloroquine-resistant malaria.

Fidock said that pfcrt's role in halofantrine and amantadine resistance was a big surprise for both drugs. "We thought initially that pfcrt was only critical for chloroquine," he said.

The researchers uncovered the new pfcrt mutations after gradually Šcreating strains of malaria resistant to halofantrine and amantadine treatment.

This unusual pattern- gaining resistance to one drug while simultaneously losing resistance to another- may shed light on the exact role that pfcrt plays in resistance, said Fidock and his colleagues.

They also noted that one of the newly discovered pfcrt mutations can be found in a strain of malaria from Southeast Asia, suggesting that their lab data have a parallel in the real world.