The University of Nottingham has taken a step closer to preventing the ‘world’s biggest killer’ by working out the life cycle of the malaria parasite.
Malaria is a tropical disease, caused by parasites which are transmitted to people through bites of infected mosquitoes.
Nearly half of the world’s population are at risk of malaria with the World Health Organisation estimating 212 million malaria cases and some 429,000 deaths reported in 2015.
By studying the life cycle of the parasite, researchers in the university’s School of Life Sciences have managed to discover how the growth of the parasite is controlled.
Rita Tewari, professor of parasite cell biology, is working on ways to try and understand which signals are needed for the parasite to divide and reproduce.
She said: “This work comes as a result of major work which we undertook to further our understanding of how the protein signalling molecules called kinases control the malaria parasite development in the host body and the gut of the mosquito.
“As a result of our research, we produced a big resource of proteins called kinases and enzymes which work in tandem with them called phosphatases.
“These are are very good potential targets for drugs and is a valuable resource for the scientific community working on malaria.”
Video: How the university is trying to beat malaria (Credit: University of Nottingham)
Professor Tewari’s laboratory is working on understanding which signals are needed for the parasite to divide and reproduce.
She said: “If we can understand the unique molecular machinery that allows the parasite to replicate then we can find strategies to prevent it.
“Parasite proliferation is more like an abnormal cancer cell in which the cell divides many times, very quickly and without many checks.
“We have shown in the past that many proteins called cyclins or usual switches like phosphatases that are in present humans cells and regulate cell division are either absent or very different in malaria parasite cell.
“That means the Plasmodium – the malaria – is not using the usual machinery which other normal cells use.
“Now we are trying to understand what the parasite does differently that is not present in the host, the human cell, as that would be the best target for drugs.
“If we can kill the parasite using those targets, then it won’t affect the human and would reduce side effects of malarial medication.”
Maria M. Mota, from Instituto de Medicina Molecular in Lisbon, led the research and speaking about the discovery and said: “This finding alters our understanding of the dynamics of malaria infections in the field.
“It might also be highly relevant facing the alarming trend of global increased overweight verses underweight populations, including in malaria endemic regions.”
