Victorian scientists discover how drug kills malaria parasites

VICTORIAN scientists have uncovered how a common drug destroys malaria parasites with a microscope capturing objects thousands of times smaller than a human hair’s width.

Scientists Dr Brad Sleebs and Dr Wilson Wong have made a malaria discovery that will help redesign drugs to treat and prevent it. Picture: Walter and Eliza Hall Institute

VICTORIAN scientists using a microscope that captures images of objects thousands of times smaller than the width of a human hair have uncovered how a common malaria drug destroys the parasites passed on by infected mosquitos.

Mefloquine has been used to treat and prevent malaria for more than 40 years but until this discovery, led by the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, it had not been clear exactly how it worked.

The discovery could now be used to “tweak” the treatment so it becomes more effective.

As fears grow that people are becoming more resistant to much-used drugs, new ways to reduce the 212 million malaria infections worldwide each year are urgently needed.

Cryo-electron microscopy involves freezing proteins — cells’ building blocks — and shooting electrons through them, capturing extremely high-resolution images.

Dr Wilson Wong, who led the study with Dr Brad Sleebs, said this allowed them to study proteins at an atomic scale.

Their findings, published in Nature Microbiology, reveal how the drug attacks the molecular machinery that makes the proteins essential for the malaria parasite’s survival.

“It’s exciting, because now we have this knowledge it will help design ways to make the drug more effective in killing the parasite,” Dr Wong said.

Collaborator Dr Jake Baum, from Imperial College London, said improving existing drugs was cheaper and faster than developing new ones.

“With growing resistance to front-line anti-malarial drugs, it makes more sense to improve secondary drugs that work imperfectly than to always reinvent the wheel,” Dr Baum said.

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