The frigid waters of the Antarctic may yield a treatment for a deadly disease that affects populations in some of the hottest places on earth. Current medications for that scourge — malaria — are becoming less effective as drug resistance spreads. But researchers report in ACS’ Journal of Natural Products that a peptide they isolated from an Antarctic sponge shows promise as a lead...
Tag: <span>malaria</span>
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Researchers identify biomarker to predict if someone infected with malaria will get sick
by Cell Press Immunological signatures can predict whether malaria-infected children will develop fever or other symptoms, suggests a study publishing September 3 in the journal Immunity. Surprisingly, activation of the well-known tumor-suppressor protein p53 is associated with enhanced protection against malaria fever—and increasing p53 in human immune cells and in mice results in a decrease in...
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Drug to treat malaria could mitigate hereditary hearing loss
by Case Western Reserve University The ability to hear depends on proteins to reach the outer membrane of sensory cells in the inner ear. But in certain types of hereditary hearing loss, mutations in the protein prevent it from reaching these membranes. Using a zebrafish model, researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have...
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Killing the liver-stage malaria parasite with baculovirus: a drug discovery approach
Researchers at Kanazawa University have discovered that an insect virus (a baculovirus) can completely eliminate liver-stage malaria parasites in mice, thus offering hope for safer and more effective treatments for the disease than existing drugs KANAZAWA UNIVERSITY Kanazawa, Japan – Currently, few antimalarial treatments exist that effectively kill liver-stage malaria parasites, which can lay dormant...
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Early stage clinical trial of antimalarial drug begins
Enrollment has begun in Phase 1 clinical trial to test the safety of a new investigational drug designed to treat malaria, as well as its effect on the human body. The first-in-human study is sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and is...
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INRS takes aim at dreaded tropical disease leishmaniasis
Leishmania is a microorganism that enters the human body via a sandfly bite. The parasite allows itself to be swallowed up by white blood cells to advance its life cycle. The disease threatens the health of over 500 million people at risk of infection in Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas. Credit: CC0 Public Domain...
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Scientists discover new method of diagnosing cancer with malaria protein
UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN THE FACULTY OF HEALTH AND MEDICAL SCIENCES In a spectacular new study, researchers from the University of Copenhagen have discovered a method of diagnosing a broad range of cancers at their early stages by utilising a particular malaria protein, which sticks to cancer cells in blood samples. The researchers hope that this method can be used...
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Research reveals defence against malaria parasites
A study involving researchers from The Australian National University (ANU) has found that platelets can attack and kill malaria parasites—reducing the number of parasites circulating in the blood. Credit: CC0 Public Domain The study, which has just been published in the prestigious journal Blood, was led by Associate Professor Brendan McMorran at ANU and Professor Nick Anstey at...
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Alarm as ‘super malaria’ spreads in South East Asia
The rapid spread of “super malaria” in South East Asia is an alarming global threat, scientists are warning. This dangerous form of the malaria parasite cannot be killed with the main anti-malaria drugs. It emerged in Cambodia but has since spread through parts of Thailand, Laos and has arrived in southern Vietnam. The team at...
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New malaria analysis method reveals disease severity in minutes
Red blood cells become less deformable as they undergo heme-induced oxidative stress caused by malaria parasites. Left untreated, malaria can progress from being mild to severe — and potentially fatal — in 24 hours. So researchers at the University of British Columbia developed a method to quickly and sensitively assess the progression of the mosquito-borne...