Artemisinin-Based Drugs Target the Plasmodium falciparum Heme Detoxification Pathway
Kaleab A. Ribbiso, Laura E. Heller, Abigail Taye, E Spallholz Julian, Andreas V. Willems, Paul D. Roepe
Abstract
Artemisinin (ART)-based antimalarial drugs are believed to exert lethal effects on malarial parasites by alkylating a variety of intracellular molecular targets. Recent work with live parasites has shown that one of the alkylated targets is free heme within the parasite digestive vacuole, which is liberated upon hemoglobin catabolism by the intraerythrocytic parasite, and that reduced levels of heme alkylation occur in artemisinin-resistant parasites.
Topics & Concepts
ArtemisininHemePlasmodium falciparumDetoxification (alternative medicine)HemozoinBiologyMalariaIntracellularVacuoleChloroquineProtozoaAmanitaBiochemistryPharmacologyMicrobiologyImmunologyMedicineEnzymePathologyCytoplasmPaleontologyAlternative medicineMalaria Research and ControlMosquito-borne diseases and controlTrypanosoma species research and implications