The team, led by Professor Leann Tilley, is in the running for the Infectious Diseases Research prize for its work on resistance to artemisinin, the most commonly used frontline malaria treatment.
Professor Tilley said artemisinin resistance is looming as a major global health crisis, with the World Health Organisation confirming multi-drug resistance in five countries: Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia.
“Malaria already kills nearly half a million children each year,” Professor Tilley said.
“As multi-drug resistance spreads, we risk wiping out the gains the world has made in fighting the disease, with potentially catastrophic results for children living in South-East Asia — as well as Africa, where the disease is endemic.”
The multidisciplinary team draws together experts from the University’s Bio21 Molecular Science and Biotechnology Institute, School of Mathematics and Statistics and School of Population and Global Health to understand how malaria parasites become resistant:
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Professor Tilley — the biochemistry and cell biology of malaria
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Dr Nick Klonis — computational biology
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Associate Professor Julie Simpson — synthesising and translating
mathematical modelling data
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Associate Professor James McCaw — mathematical biology
Artemisinin damages proteins and the team found that resistant parasites are better at repairing the damage. They then homed in on proteasomes — enzymes that act as disposal units within cells. When this recycling function is blocked, the efficacy of artemisinins against malaria parasite is restored.
Some cancer drugs also target proteasomes to stop cancers spreading. “We’ve found that some cancer drugs already on the market have excellent antimalarial activity and are highly effective in combination with artemisinin,” Professor Tilley said.
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