Today, malaria is not found in Australia, with the last outbreak having occured just after WWII. Researchers at Deakin University appear to have stumbled onto a serious breakthrough in the treatment of the deadly disease, which although unlikely to cause great excitement among Australians, could help to spare the suffering of the countless victims it afflicts elsewhere around the world.
The malaria parasite grows inside red blood cells but to survive and cause illness it must transport hundreds of different proteins to the outside. While these proteins have many different functions that are crucial to parasite growth and survival, a common feature is that they must all pass through the same pore in the surrounding membrane.
The scientists have now discovered the identity of this protein pore, which could be vital in the development for a new anti-malarial therapy.
Dr Tania de Koning-Ward, the lead author of the study and researcher with the Deakin Medical School, said the discovery opened up a new way to combat this disease.
“The next step is to identify drugs that block this protein channel. Since it is completely unique to malaria parasites this is a realistic possibility,” she said.
Professor Brendan Crabb, coordinator of the project and Director of The Burnet Institute, said the discovery is a breakthrough.
“Protein export machines are of great interest in biology but because of the enormous scale of the malaria problem this one also has practical health value. Therapies that block this pore interfere with many different crucial processes in the one hit and in that sense it is an Achilles heel of the malaria parasite.”
Malaria is spread via mosquitoes and its most lethal form is caused by the parasite Plasmodium falciparum – It’s every bit as dangerous as it is difficult to pronounce. There are in excess of 400 million cases of malaria each year with more than one million people, mainly children, dying from the disease. New therapies are urgently needed to combat ever-increasing resistance to the available drugs, making the discoveries at Deakin important far and wide.
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