Researchers have discovered a normal function of a set of proteins related to the malaria parasite protein, which causes resistance to the front-line drugchloroquine. This discovery brings researchers a step closer to developing new antimalarial drugs and provides a new tool to study the malarial chloroquine-resistance factor.
The study examined transporter proteins that move compounds around the cell. The genes for these proteins are present in plants as well as the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum (known as clt and PfCRT respectively).
Using this ‘shared’ characteristic, researchers used the model plant Arabidopsis to reveal that these proteins normally transport glutathione, an antioxidant that protects the cell from stresses.
Professor Alan Cowman from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, has been awarded the 2010 Howard Taylor Ricketts Award by the University of Chicago for his work in malaria.
The annual award recognises outstanding accomplishment in the field of medical sciences. It was established in 1913 in memory of Howard Taylor Ricketts, the University of Chicago scientist who demonstrated that Rocky Mountain spotted fever is transferred to man by ticks.
For the past 30 years Professor Cowman has studied Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes the most deadly form of human malaria. Each year more than 400 million people contract malaria, and more than one million people, mostly children, die from the disease.
Professor Cowman’s research has led to better understanding of how the malaria parasite evades the human immune system as well as anti-malarial drugs. It has also revealed much about how the malaria parasite invades and remodels the human red blood cell. Collectively, this knowledge is being used to identify vaccine and drug candidates against malaria.
As a recipient of the Howard Taylor Ricketts award Professor Cowman will give a named lecture on his research to staff of the University of Chicago’s Division of Biological Sciences and School of Medicine in May 2010. He also receives US$10,000 and a medal.
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