HIGH THROUGH-PUT DISCOVERY OF MALARIA DRUG TARGETS

DESCRIPTION (Provided by applicant): Emerging and re-emerging infectious
diseases are some of the most important contributors to pain, suffering and
poverty in the developing world. For parasitic diseases in general, vaccines
are nonexistent and none are likely to have a significant impact in the
foreseeable future. In the case of malaria, without a vaccine on the horizon
and an increasing prevalence of resistance to commonly used therapeutic drugs,
the need for additional anti-malarial drug development is obvious. However,
several factors, including increased cost of development, have lead to the
retreat of most pharmaceutical companies from the development of new
anti-malarial therapeutics. The research and development described in this
proposal utilizes a new cost effective approach to anti-malarial drug target
discovery. We will use a comparative approach to identify potential therapeutic
targets common to Plasmodium falciparum, Toxoplasma gondii and Eimeria tenella.
This work will form the basis for a future phase II application, which will use
the reagents developed here to identify broad spectrum apicomplexan specific
inhibitor compounds.