According to a study published in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, the Plasmodium species responsible for causing malaria has developed drug resistance to all known antimalarial therapeutics, leading to discontinuation of many first-line treatments, including chloroquine, proguanil, pyrimethamine, sulfadoxine-pyrimeth- amine, and mefloquine.
JNU researchers re-positioned anti-hepatitis C drug to treat malaria
A team of researchers from the Special Centre for Molecular Medicine at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) have re-positioned an anti-hepatitis C drug, Alisporivir, to treat malaria caused by drug-resistant strains. Malaria is a vector-borne disease caused by Plasmodium species parasites that spreads through the bite of infected mosquitoes.
According to a study published in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, the Plasmodium species responsible for causing malaria has developed drug resistance to all known antimalarial therapeutics, leading to discontinuation of many first-line treatments, including chloroquine, proguanil, pyrimethamine, sulfadoxine-pyrimeth- amine, and mefloquine.
JNU researchers have re-positioned an anti-hepatitis C drug, Alisporivir, to treat malaria caused by drug-resistant strains. More recently, the study published in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy adds there are reports of emerging resistance against artemisinin-based combination therapies also which is threatening the ongoing global efforts to eliminate malaria and has necessitated the need for newer drugs.
Alisporivir is a non-immunosuppressive analogue of cyclosporin A, a well-known immunosuppressive agent for organ transplants.
"Cyclosporin A is also able to inhibit the growth of the Plasmodium parasites, but because of its immunosuppressive nature, it was never approved as an antimalarial drug. We have re-positioned Alisporivir and studied its anti-malarial potential against Plasmodium parasites. Alisporivir showed potent antiparasitic activity against Plasmodium both in blood stage culture and in the mouse model. In addition, Alisporivir doesn't induce eryptosis, the suicidal death of red blood cells," Professor Anand Ranganathan, one of the corresponding authors of study published in antimicrobial agents and chemotherapysaid.
He further added: "Our study is experimental in nature. It will be followed up with a clinical trial to further evaluate the efficacy of the drug in managing malaria caused by drug-resistant pathogens."
Shailja Singh, another researcher who was part of the study, said the process of drug development is tedious and costly. "One of the most effective solutions could be drug repositioning. It is a process to identify new medical uses for an existing drug. Its major benefits include being more cost-effective, requiring less time, and having an already known safety profile," Singh said.
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