UoH group finds gene to curb malaria
The inhibitor B02 which has been found by the researchers to be equally effective against drug sensitive and multi-drug resistant malaria strains.
Hyderabad: The University of Hyderabad malaria group has found a small chemical inhibitor of DNA recombinase enzyme that blocks the repair of parasite genome and helps to curb malaria. This work was published in the recent issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
The researchers found that targeting the Plasmodium homologous recombination breaks the DNA’s double stand and leads to the death of the unicellular plasmodium. They found that homologous recombination is the main repair pathway of the plasmodium.
Prof. Mrinal Kanti Bhattacharyya from the School of Life Sciences who led the research explained, “The inhibitor is found to work in the first two line malaria drugs Artemisinin (ART) and Chloroquine (CQ). Currently, ART is the World Health Organisation drug prescribed to treat cerebral malaria.”
The inhibitor B02 which has been found by the researchers to be equally effective against drug sensitive and multi-drug resistant malaria strains.
The emergence of ART resistant malaria parasites from various parts of the world shows that newer anti-malarial compounds need to discovered stated the researchers.