Based on the collected ethnobotanical data from the Traditional Medicine and Materia Medica Research Center (TMRC), Iran, Myrtus communis L. (myrtle) was selected for the assessment of in vitro and in vivo antimalarial and cytotoxic activities. Methanolic extract of myrtle was prepared from the aerial parts and assessed for antiplasmodial activity, using the parasite lactate dehydrogenase (pLDH...

The search for safe antimalarial compounds acting against asexual symptom-responsible stages and sexual transmission-responsible forms of Plasmodium species is one of the major challenges in malaria elimination programs. So far, among current drugs approved for human use, only primaquine has transmission-blocking activity. The discovery of small molecules targeting different Plasmodium falcipar...

Each year roughly 800 000 people die of malaria, with 95% being African children. The shortcomings of the current drugs and the emergence of P. falciparum resistance to the artemisinin class of compounds warrant the search for new classes or derivatives. In search for such compounds, a series of 10β-amino-quinolinylethylethers of artemisinin, previously synthesized from this laboratory were scr...

The surfaces of the infected erythrocyte (IE) and the merozoite, two developmental stages of malaria parasites, expose antigenic determinants to the host immune system. We report on surface-associated interspersed genes (surf genes), which encode a novel polymorphic protein family, SURFINs, present on both IEs and merozoites. A SURFIN expressed in 3D7 parasites, SURFIN4.2, was identified by mas...

The genetic diversity of Plasmodium falciparum (P falciparum) infections in humans is implicated in the pathogenesis of malaria. This study provides the first estimate of the genetic diversity and genotype multiplicity of Plasmodium falciparum infection in children with uncomplicated P falciparum malaria in Osogbo, Nigeria. One hundred and one isolates were used for analysis of parasite populat...

Malarial parasite P. falciparum, an apicomplexan protozoan has a 23.3 MB nuclear genome and encodes ~ 5600 transcripts. The genetic diversity of the parasite within and across geographical zones is a challenge to gene expression studies which are essential for understanding of disease process, outcome and developing markers for diagnostics and prognostics. Here, we describe the strategy involve...

Plasmodium falciparum apical membrane antigen 1 (PfAMA1), a candidate malaria vaccine, is polymorphic. This polymorphism is believed to be generated predominantly under immune selection pressure and, as a result, may compromise attempts at vaccination. Alignment of 355 PfAMA1 sequences shows that around 10% of the 622 amino acid residues can vary between alleles and that linkages between polymo...

Plasmodium falciparum is the causative agent of the most burdensome form of human malaria, affecting 200-300 million individuals per year worldwide. The recently sequenced genome of P. falciparum revealed over 5,400 genes, of which 60% encode proteins of unknown function. Insights into the biochemical function and regulation of these genes will provide the foundation for future drug and vaccine...