Scientists Discover New Method to Trap and Kill Malaria Parasite, Halting Its Spread

There may be a way to trap the malaria parasite, effectively halting the disease. Scientists found out a possible way to entomb the parasite in a prison of its own making.

The malaria parasite is one of the world's most deadly pathogens. Spread mainly by the bite of infected mosquitoes, it's most common in Africa. In fact, an estimated 207 million cases of malaria occurred worldwide in 2012, which led to 627,000 deaths. That's why it's crucial to find potential targets for beating malaria.

When the malaria parasite invades a red blood cell, it takes part of the host cell's membrane to build a protective compartment. Then, it starts a series of major renovations that transform the red blood cell into a suitable home for it to grow properly and steal nourishment. Yet scientists have now found that the proteins that make these renovations must pass through a single pore in the parasite's compartment to get into the red blood cell. If this passage could be disrupted, the parasite would stop growing and die.

"The malaria parasite secretes hundreds of diverse proteins to seize control of red blood cells," said Josh Beck, the first author of the new paper, in a news release. "We've been searching for a single step that all those various proteins have to take to be secreted, and this looks like just such a bottleneck."

More specifically, the researchers examined heat shock protein 101 (HSP101). This protein becomes active when cells are overheated or stressed, and have multiple functions. Previous studies have actually suggested HSP101 might be involved in protein secretion and it turns out that's the case. The researchers disabled HSP101 in cell cultures and found that this stopped the discharge of all malarial proteins.

"We think this is a very promising target for drug development," said Daniel Goldberg, the senior author. "We're a long way from getting a new drug, but in the short term we may look at screening a variety of compounds to see if they have the potential to block HSP101."

The findings are published in the journal Nature.