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Malaria breakthrough in Australia 'Breakthrough' in malaria fight
(about 8 hours later)
Australian scientists have identified a potential treatment to combat malaria by pinpointing the process that helps the disease hijack red blood cells. Australian scientists have identified a potential treatment to combat malaria.
They have found the key to an adhesive that stops the parasite being flushed out of the body by the immune system.
The removal of just one of these compounds is enough to bring the process to a halt.
Researchers in Melbourne believe their discovery could be a major breakthrough in the fight against the disease.Researchers in Melbourne believe their discovery could be a major breakthrough in the fight against the disease.
They have identified eight proteins that allow this glue-like substance onto the surface of a hijacked cell. The malaria parasite produces a glue-like substance which makes the cells it infects sticky, so they cannot be flushed through the body.
Proteins are nature's building blocks. They are large molecules that are essential for the function of cells in the body. The researchers have shown removing a protein responsible for the glue can destroy its stickiness, and undermine the parasite's defence.
Professor Alan Cowman, a member of the research team at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, said targeting those proteins could be a key to fighting malaria. The malaria parasite produces the "glue" when it infects target red blood cells, enabling them to stick to the walls of blood vessels.
"We essentially block the virulence or the capacity of the parasite to cause disease," he said. This stops them being pased through the spleen, where the parasites would usually be destroyed by the immune system.
Malaria is preventable and curable, but can be fatal if not treated promptly. Using genetic tests of the parasite, the Australian scientists identified eight proteins responsible for the production of the "glue".
The disease kills more than a million people each year. Many of the victims are young children in sub-Saharan Africa. Removing just one of these proteins stopped the cell from attaching itself to the walls of blood vessels.
Professor Alan Cowman, a member of the research team at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, said targeting the protein with drugs could be a key to fighting malaria.
"If we block the stickiness we essentially block the virulence or the capacity of the parasite to cause disease," he said.
Malaria is preventable and curable, but can be fatal if not treated promptly. The disease kills more than a million people each year. Many of the victims are young children in sub-Saharan Africa.