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Malaria mosquito molecule can create more effective anticoagulant
Mechanism of action study revealed anophelin molecule produced by Anopheles and prevents blood clotting host
Posted Saturday, January 5, 2013 at 16:58 | THE R7
Team of researchers from the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology in Portugal, deciphered the mechanism of action of the molecule anophelin, produced by the Anopheles mosquito, which transmits malaria, and responsible for preventing clotting of the blood of the host.
The investigation led by Peter Pereira, may permit the development of molecules in the laboratory which have anticoagulant function to treat thrombotic diseases more effectively in humans. Although not the only molecule with anticoagulant properties, the anophelin is smaller and simpler than the other, while being quite effective. This effect had only been observed in much larger molecules, researchers. staff states that the advantage of this type of molecule compared with other drugs used as anticoagulants is that they do not act directly on the coagulation process, while the molecule acts upon the last enzyme in the coagulation cascade, thus being more effective, safer and showing no side effects as many other options. Pereira and colleagues believe that the development of a synthetic molecule based on anophelin for therapeutic purposes, one possibility is therefore smaller size is easier to be emulated by artificially created compounds. Their study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.