HIV, the pandemic virus that causes AIDS, kills 2 million people each year worldwide. Malaria, a ubiquitous parasite spread by mosquitoes, infects 225 million people and kills 781,000 each year. The former disease ravaging our species since the spread we monkeys a mere 40 years; It has been our enemy for so long, our bodies have evolved means to fight.
The two killers, new and old, were in fact some molecular similarities. This fact - and some new research - a single "superdrug" could soon fight both.
This drug is inhibitory protease of HIV, a drug which scientists designed specifically for the treatment of HIV by preventing the deadly virus to build its proteins correctly. "HIV protease inhibitors are now in clinical use and are a leading HIV drug, said Photini Sinnis, responsible of the laboratory of medical parasitology Langone NYU Medical Center." They completely changed the face of the treatment of HIV in recent years. People taking these drugs die of AIDS years. ?
Proteases are enzymes that cut the proteins in their correct forms, enabling them to become active. HIV protease inhibitors stop HIV in its tracks by one of its protease enzymes prevents to do the work. Without the work of the protease of HIV proteins remain cut off and inactive, and HIV units, called virions, can assemble to new virions. The body has natural mechanisms for the murder of virions HIV, but it can kill only so many at once. prevent continuous replication virus population of cells HIV at a level that can manage the body.
Two birds, one stone
Over the past few years, several groups of research (including the Sinnis group) have noticed a positive side-effect surprising specific HIV protease inhibitors. "We are seeing that drugs have anti-malarial properties," Sinnis said little mysteries of life, a sister site to LiveScience.
Researchers believe that closed HIV protease inhibitors a protease present in malaria parasites as they do to HIV protease. The Sinnis Group found that anti-HIV drugs prevent the parasite to reproduce in mice.
No human trials have been carried out, but the first results in mice already have researchers in HIV advocating the exclusive use of protease inhibitors for the treatment of HIV in Africa. "In Africa, where the duplication of HIV and malaria a lot, HIV drugs we use should be the protease inhibitors," Sinnis said. "" "". While they would have the additional advantage of inhibition of malaria infection. ?
At the moment, protease inhibitors are useful for fighting malaria in people who already have HIV. They are more toxic than many drugs used to fight against malaria in itself and therefore would not be given to a person just to treat malaria. But if protease inhibitors can be adjusted to be less toxic, they could be viable as a stand-alone antimalarial drug. And when this happens, it will be welcome weapon against the disease: because malaria is changing rapidly immunity to malaria drugs, the news is still desperately needed.
However, to develop a stand-alone anti-malaria drug based on anti-HIV drugs, specific protease in malaria which gets targeted by HIV protease inhibitors must first be found. "If we could find the target protease, we might develop medicines which are better targeting, without toxicity," said Sinnis.
Closing in on the target
Until now, scientists are are reduced to the class of proteases that can contain the protease targets, but they have not found the specific. Because malaria complex life cycle and unusual genome, "it is very difficult to express proteins of malaria [including protease] in the laboratory", Sinnis explained. This makes experiments on slow continuous malaria proteases.
But the answer may be just to arrive. In an article in the may issue of the journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), Colin Berry and his colleagues at Cardiff University in England report after finding a protease inhibited HIV protease inhibitor in the Leishmania parasitea relative of malaria. Although protease, called Ddi 1, has not been identified in malaria, group of Berry and others believe that he could be the target protease that everyone has been seeking.
"Our results indicate that Ddi1 proteins are targets of HIV [protease] inhibitors and indicate the Leishmania Ddi1 as the likely target of these drugs and a potential target for antiparasitic treatment", Berry et al. write in their paper. "[By] identifying the responsible protein, we want exploit this weakness in the parasite to develop new and effective therapeutic products against these devastating diseases," they said in a press release.
"[Berry et al.] are suggesting that maybe what they have found in Leishmania may be relevant for malaria." And it is true - it might be, "said Sinnis." "" Paper certainly gives hope and ideas in terms of finding the target in malaria parasites. ?
And when is found, wonder HIV drug can be redesigned to work wonders against malaria for example.
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