Australian scientists make breakthrough in treating malaria

Australian scientists have made a breakthrough in developing new treatments for malaria, discovering why the parasite is resistant to some drug therapies.

In a study published on Friday, the team from the Australian National University (ANU) characterized two proteins -- PfMDR1 and PfCRT -- that transport drugs away from where they are effective in malaria parasites toward areas that render them ineffective.

Sarah Shafik, a co-author of the study from the ANU Research School of Biology, said some existing treatments for malaria are only effective if the drugs are inside the parasite's stomach while others work best outside the stomach.

"We knew that parasites can be resistant to some drugs while simultaneously being susceptible to others, but we didn't know how this occurred," she said in a media release.

"Our work shows that PfMDR1 and PfCRT work together to alter the distribution of the drugs within the parasite, helping it to evade the killing effect of one drug. But in turn, this means that the parasite becomes more susceptible to another drug."

The research team is hopeful that their findings could lead to new treatments that target PfMDR1 and PfCRT to nullify them.

Shafik said that if scientists can render the proteins inactive they could inhibit the malaria parasite's ability to build resistance to treatments and eventually eradicate the disease, which kills more than 600,000 people globally in 2020.

"Our intention is to target the ability of PfMDR1 and PfCRT to control the movement of drugs inside the parasite, but also to inhibit the essential natural function of proteins which helps the parasite grow," Shafik said.