Scientists have discovered an Achilles heel for the malaria parasite, in a breakthrough that could lead to new ways of killing the parasite which claims the lives of more than half a million people every year.
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Scientists from the Australian National University, working with research groups across Australia and the globe have uncovered a raft of molecules capable of disabling a molecular salt pump on the surface of the malaria parasite.
Disabling the pump causes the parasite to fill up with salt, causing it to swell and burst.
Professor Kiaran Kirk, dean of ANU College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, said the discovery was important because the malaria parasite had become resistant to nearly all of the drugs currently available.
"It is critical that new ways are found to kill the parasite and thereby treat people with the disease," he said.
It is estimated that there are more than two million cases of malaria each year and more than 600,000 people, mostly children under the age of five, die from the disease.
"We've discovered what seems to be a fatal weakness in the parasite," Professor Kirk said.
"The salt pump clearly plays a crucial role in the parasite's survival, and what we have shown is that there are many different types of molecules that can stop this salt pump from working, and which thereby kill the parasite. This pump would seem to be a real Achilles heel."
Professor Kirk's research group first showed two years ago that it was possible to block the parasite's salt pump.
Working with groups overseas, they showed that a newly-discovered antimalarial molecule exerted its effect by causing the parasite to fill with salt.
"Since then this first salt pump blocker has been racing through clinical trials," Professor Kirk said.
"It has just a completed a phase-two trial which has essentially shown that this molecule is extremely effective at curing malaria in people."
In two new papers, published this week and last week, the group has shown two new highly-promising antimalarials work in the same way, causing a salt overload in the parasite.
"Each of these are completely different molecules, yet both kill the parasite very effectively and very quickly, through the same mechanism," Professor Kirk said.
"The first of the salt pump blockers is well on the way towards being developed as an anti-malarial drug.
"The two new molecules have a few years to go, but the fact that the first molecule has moved so fast through clinical trials highlights the fact that it is possible to move from the laboratory to treating patients on a timescale of a few years if the molecules pass all of the tests."
Prof Kirk and his team are now looking at whether the breakthrough might be used to tackle other parasites.
