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http://g1.globo.com/ciencia-e-saude...asita-da-inicia-o-ataque-ao-corpo-humano.html
Portuguese to English translation
Study discovers how the malaria parasite initiates the attack on the body
Authors believe they have found 'Achilles heel' of the disease.
Discovery could lead to new drugs and vaccines.
G1, with information from AFP and Reuters
A discovery published on Wednesday (9) may lead to new drugs and vaccines against malaria. Scientists unveiled as the causative agent of the disease invades the red blood cells.
According to research published in the British journal "Nature", this mechanism is essential input common for all variants of Plasmodium falciparum , the most deadly protozoan, among those that cause malaria.
read more
Scientists reported progress in malaria vaccine
Malaria is close to being eradicated in a third country, WHO says
Scientists create infertile to reduce mosquito transmission of malaria
Gene discovery may lead to advances in fighting malaria
Consequently, a future vaccine could theoretically be effective for all strains of the parasite, they said.
So far, it was thought that the parasite P. falciparum have several options to overcome the defenses of blood cells.
But according to Gavin Wright, the Sanger Institute (Cambridge, UK), co-author and his colleagues from Senegal, Japan and the United States, the interaction between a specific molecule of the parasite, called "ligand PfRH5", and a receiver red blood cell, the basigina (BSG), it is essential for infection.
"Our research seems to have found an Achilles heel in the way our parasite invades red blood cells," says Wright.
"Our results were unexpected and completely change the way we see the invasion process," he adds.
Moreover, according to his work, anti-BSG can block infection of blood cells, whatever the strain tested in the laboratory.
This single receiver becomes a potential target to halt the invasion of the parasite and, therefore, may lead to a more effective solution to one day eradicate the disease.
Currently, malaria still kills 781,000 people a year. The vast majority of victims are children under five in sub-Saharan Africa, according to World Health Organization (WHO).
Portuguese to English translation
Study discovers how the malaria parasite initiates the attack on the body
Authors believe they have found 'Achilles heel' of the disease.
Discovery could lead to new drugs and vaccines.
G1, with information from AFP and Reuters
A discovery published on Wednesday (9) may lead to new drugs and vaccines against malaria. Scientists unveiled as the causative agent of the disease invades the red blood cells.
According to research published in the British journal "Nature", this mechanism is essential input common for all variants of Plasmodium falciparum , the most deadly protozoan, among those that cause malaria.
read more
Scientists reported progress in malaria vaccine
Malaria is close to being eradicated in a third country, WHO says
Scientists create infertile to reduce mosquito transmission of malaria
Gene discovery may lead to advances in fighting malaria
Consequently, a future vaccine could theoretically be effective for all strains of the parasite, they said.
So far, it was thought that the parasite P. falciparum have several options to overcome the defenses of blood cells.
But according to Gavin Wright, the Sanger Institute (Cambridge, UK), co-author and his colleagues from Senegal, Japan and the United States, the interaction between a specific molecule of the parasite, called "ligand PfRH5", and a receiver red blood cell, the basigina (BSG), it is essential for infection.
"Our research seems to have found an Achilles heel in the way our parasite invades red blood cells," says Wright.
"Our results were unexpected and completely change the way we see the invasion process," he adds.
Moreover, according to his work, anti-BSG can block infection of blood cells, whatever the strain tested in the laboratory.
This single receiver becomes a potential target to halt the invasion of the parasite and, therefore, may lead to a more effective solution to one day eradicate the disease.
Currently, malaria still kills 781,000 people a year. The vast majority of victims are children under five in sub-Saharan Africa, according to World Health Organization (WHO).