New hope for malaria TB combination drug

Scientists at the International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in New Delhi have developed a new synthetic molecule that prevents both the microbes of tuberculosis and malaria from attacking human cells.

Scientists at the International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in New Delhi have developed a new synthetic molecule that prevents both the microbes of tuberculosis and malaria from attacking human cells.

Scientists-have-developed-a-synthetic-molecule-that-prevents-both-the-microbes-of-TB-and-malaria-from-attacking-human-cells-Virendra-Singh-Gosain-HT-File-Photo

“This work forms the framework for the development of a single drug for combating two deadly infectious diseases, namely malaria and tuberculosis, where wide-spread drug resistance is rampant,” says Dr Pawan Malhotra, the lead author and collaborating scientist of this study.

While there may be some time before such peptide-based drugs are widely seen in the market, the study paves the way to identifying and targeting host-specific molecules for treatment of infectious diseases.

“What we have tried to do is to target human proteins to fight deadly infectious diseases. We have discovered a completely synthetic polypeptide that interacts with human protein called ICAM-1 and its homologue ICAM-4 and inhibits infection by as much as 80%, of pathogens that cause tuberculosis and malaria,” one of the authors of the study Dr Anand Ranganathan said.