BioProject

The increasing spread of drug-resistant malaria strains underscores the need for new antimalarial agents with novel modes of action (MOAs). More...

The increasing spread of drug-resistant malaria strains underscores the need for new antimalarial agents with novel modes of action (MOAs). Here, we describe a compound representative of a new class of antimalarials. This molecule, ACT-213615, potently inhibits in vitro erythrocytic growth of all tested Plasmodium falciparum strains, irrespective of their drug resistance properties, with IC(50) values in the low single-digit nanomolar range. Like the clinically used artemisinins, the compound equally and very rapidly affects all three asexual erythrocytic parasite stages. In contrast, microarray studies suggest that the MOA of ACT-213615 is different from that of the artemisinins and other known antimalarials. ACT-213615 is orally bioavailable in mice, exhibits activity in the murine P. berghei model and efficacy comparable to that of the reference drug chloroquine in the recently established P. falciparum SCID mouse model.ACT-213615 represents a new class of potent antimalarials that merits further investigation for its clinical potential. Histone deacetylase (HDACs) inhibitors are being intensively pursued as potential new antimalarial drugs, and are also emerging as valuable tools for investigating transcriptional control in malaria parasites. In this study, the genome-wide transcriptional effects of three structurally related hydroxamate HDAC inhibitors were profiled in Plasmodium falciparum, the most lethal of the malaria parasite species that infects humans. Overall design: Trophozoite-stage P. falciparum cells were treated with ACT-213615 for increasing amount of time at IC50 concentration and cells were harvested in parralled with DMSO treated controls for microarray-based transcriptional profiling. Less...