A MALARIA breakthrough by Scots researchers could pave the way to new drug treatments able to prevent transmission of the disease.
A study by scientists at Glasgow University and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, near Cambridge, has unlocked the long-standing mystery of how the malaria parasite initiates the process of passing from human to human.
Malaria is transmitted to people through the bites of mosquitoes which have themselves been infected by the Plasmodium parasites that cause the disease.
The team has identified a single regulatory protein which acts as the “master switch” that triggers the development of male and female sexual forms – known as gametocytes – of the malaria parasite.
If the malaria parasite is unable to take that crucial sexual developmental step, then transmission of the disease can no longer take place.
The researchers spent more than three years using highly-sophisticated genome sequencing techniques to identify mutants of the protein which prevent the development of gametocytes.
The discovery means this “transmission switch” could be disabled in future through the development of new drugs.
Professor Andy Waters, director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology at Glasgow University, said: “Malaria is the biggest parasitic disease killer that there is in the world, so clearly we need to combat that. There are drugs, but they are losing their efficacy because the parasite is becoming resistant. There is currently no vaccine.”
The Latest on: Malaria
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Malaria” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Malaria
- R21 anti-malaria vaccine is a game changer. The scientist who designed it reflects on 30 years of research, and its hopeful promises.on May 8, 2024 at 7:30 am
Until three years ago nobody had developed a vaccine against any parasitic disease. Now there are two against malaria: the RTS,S and the R21 vaccines.
- Malaria is a Women’s Rights Issueon May 7, 2024 at 9:47 am
Walk into any community health centre and look at who is at the bedside of the patients. Women. Young girls who should be in school instead of tending to the sick. Young women who should be at work trying to eke a living in a world where they already get less pay than their male
via Bing News