BACKGROUND Malaria is an endemic disease affecting many countries in Tropical regions. In the search for compound hits for the design and/or development of new drugs against the disease, many research teams have resorted to African medicinal plants in order to identify lead compounds. Three-dimensional molecular models were generated for anti-malarial compounds of African origin (from 'weakly' ...

using mutation specific pcr assay and analysis of position 108 amino acid in dihydrofolate reductase-thymidilate synthase gene in 70 plasmodium falciparum isolates of malarial patients from southern areas of iran, showed 4 different situations: iwild type (108-ser) ii-mutant type (108-thr) iii-mutant type (108-asn) and iv-mixed wild and mutant type (108-ser+thr) with frequency of 58(82.8%), 2(2...

The cysteine protease falcipain-2 (FP-2) of Plasmodium falciparum is a principal cysteine protease and an essential hemoglobinase of erythrocytic P. falciparum trophozoites, making it become an attractive target enzyme for developing anti-malarial drugs. In this study, a series of novel small molecule FP-2 inhibitors have been designed and synthesized based on compound 1, which was identified b...

Artemisinins are a family of sesquiterpene trioxane lactone anti-malarial agents originally derived from Artemisia annua L. The anti-malarial action of artemisinins involves the formation of free radicals via cleavage of the endoperoxide bond in its structure, which mediate eradication of the Plasmodium species. With its established safety record in millions of malarial patients, artemisinins a...

Life-history theory predicts that sexually reproducing organisms have evolved to resolve resource-allocation trade-offs between growth/survival versus reproduction, and current versus future reproduction. Malaria parasites replicate asexually in their vertebrate hosts, but must reproduce sexually to infect vectors and be transmitted to new hosts. As different specialized stages are required for...

Anti-malarial drugs may induce numerous cutaneous adverse drug reactions as well as exacerbation of psoriasis. Acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis (AGEP) is a clinical reaction pattern that is principally drug induced and is characterized by acute, extensive formation of non-follicular sterile pustules on an erythematous and oedematous substrate. Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), an anti-malaria...

We have used a specific inhibitor of the malarial aspartic proteinase plasmepsin I and a nonspecific cysteine proteinase inhibitor to investigate the importance of hemoglobin degradation in the mechanism of action of chloroquine, amodiaquine, quinine, mefloquine (MQ), halofantrine, and primaquine. Both proteinase inhibitors antagonized the antiparasitic activity of all drugs tested with the exc...

In this tutorial review, an effort towards presentation of a comprehensive account of the recent developments on various kinds of artemisinin derivatives including artemisinin dimers, trimers and tetramers has been made and their efficacy towards malaria parasites and different cancer cells lines was compared with that of artemisinins, and various other anti-malarial and anti-cancer drugs. It i...

Anti-malarial drugs have been used in various ways to prevent malaria in the resident populations of endemic areas for nearly 100 years. The primary aim of most early studies was to interrupt transmission. This was rarely achieved, but administration of anti-malarial drugs either through medication of salt or by mass administration frequently led to a marked reduction in the prevalence of malar...

Plasmepsin group of enzymes are key enzymes in the life cycle of malarial parasites. As inhibition of plasmepsins leads to the parasite's death, these enzymes can be utilized as potential drug targets. Although many drugs are available, it has been observed that Plasmodium falciparum, the species that causes most of the malarial infections and subsequent death, has developed resistance against ...