Creating a new weapon in the fight against malaria

Public release date: 8-May-2012
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Contact: Sarah Jackson
press_releases@the-jci.org
Journal of Clinical Investigation

Over 200 million people contract malaria each year, and according to the World Health Organization, an estimated 655,000 people died from malaria in 2010. Malaria is caused by the parasite Plasmodium, which is transmitted to humans through mosquito bites. More effective control of malaria will require the development of new tools to prevent new infections. Wesley Van Voorhis at the University of Washington in Seattle and Oliver Billker at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, England assembled an international research team to tackle the challenge of finding new ways to combat malaria. Their unique approach was to uncover a pathway that could block transmission of Plasmodium from humans to mosquitos, which represents a new strategy for controlling the spread of malaria. They discovered a new class of malaria transmission-blocking compounds that work by inhibiting a protein known as bumped kinase I. Bumped kinase I is required for Plasmodium to transition to sporozoites stage, the stage in its life cycle when it is infectious to mammals. In mosquitoes that fed on blood treated with the bumped kinase inhibitor, Plasmodium sporozoite formation was blocked. The research team showed preclinical data in mice indicating that bumped kinase inhibitors are safe and well tolerated. Their results show that bumped kinase inhibitors target a new life cycle stage in Plasmodium, and suggest that these compounds merit further development as a new therapy for malaria control.

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TITLE:

Transmission of malaria to mosquitoes blocked by bumped kinase inhibitors

AUTHOR CONTACT:

Kayode K. Ojo

University of Washington, Seattle, , USA

Phone: 206 543 0821; E-mail: ojo67kk@u.washington.edu

View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/61822?key=bd73a892f008d6fa9cae

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 8-May-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Sarah Jackson
press_releases@the-jci.org
Journal of Clinical Investigation

Over 200 million people contract malaria each year, and according to the World Health Organization, an estimated 655,000 people died from malaria in 2010. Malaria is caused by the parasite Plasmodium, which is transmitted to humans through mosquito bites. More effective control of malaria will require the development of new tools to prevent new infections. Wesley Van Voorhis at the University of Washington in Seattle and Oliver Billker at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, England assembled an international research team to tackle the challenge of finding new ways to combat malaria. Their unique approach was to uncover a pathway that could block transmission of Plasmodium from humans to mosquitos, which represents a new strategy for controlling the spread of malaria. They discovered a new class of malaria transmission-blocking compounds that work by inhibiting a protein known as bumped kinase I. Bumped kinase I is required for Plasmodium to transition to sporozoites stage, the stage in its life cycle when it is infectious to mammals. In mosquitoes that fed on blood treated with the bumped kinase inhibitor, Plasmodium sporozoite formation was blocked. The research team showed preclinical data in mice indicating that bumped kinase inhibitors are safe and well tolerated. Their results show that bumped kinase inhibitors target a new life cycle stage in Plasmodium, and suggest that these compounds merit further development as a new therapy for malaria control.

###

TITLE:

Transmission of malaria to mosquitoes blocked by bumped kinase inhibitors

AUTHOR CONTACT:

Kayode K. Ojo

University of Washington, Seattle, , USA

Phone: 206 543 0821; E-mail: ojo67kk@u.washington.edu

View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/61822?key=bd73a892f008d6fa9cae

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

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