The Wellcome Trust, a research-funding charity that aims to improve human and animal health, hopes to use new research findings to help develop medicines for people living in and travelling to regions afflicted by malaria.
The announcement came after British scientists said they had made a breakthrough in finding a permanent treatment for malaria. The trust funded the research.
The scientists say they have identified the element in the make-up of the parasite responsible for the disease that enables it to become quickly resistant to new treatments, a property that has severely hampered drug companies’ efforts to develop a vaccine.
The disease causes about 2,7-million deaths each year. Most of the deaths are in Africa, where 90% of malaria cases occur.
Malaria is caused by four species of parasitic protozoa — single-cell organisms — that infect human red blood cells.
Researchers at Edinburgh University’s Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology have been working with scientists at the Biotec Institute in Bangkok to study the protein responsible.
The findings could have a major effect on treatment for the disease. Scientists say the key lies in a protein called DHFR, which the parasite produces to keep itself alive. Tests using genetic engineering techniques have isolated the part of the protein that changes to protect itself against pyrimethamine, a chemical used in anti-malarial drugs.
“We can now use this protein structure to design a new generation of drugs which makes it possible to overcome resistant strains of malaria,” said Malcolm Walkinshaw, a professor at Edinburgh University.
“This is a real breakthrough. Drug resistance is a major issue for all infectious diseases, not just malaria.”