From The Age :
" Melbourne scientists have worked out how to stop the malaria parasite from infecting red blood cells — a key step that promises new treatments for a disease that kills about a million people globally each year.
Currently anti-malarials stop the development of the parasite once it is inside the red blood cell. But significantly, this new technique, outlined today in the US journal Blood, is used before the deadly parasite enters red blood cells.
"For one reason or another this approach hasn't been pursued much," said James Beeson, from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Parkville.
"The general approach is to target pathways that an organism needs to survive."
But Dr Beeson and colleagues Michelle Boyle and Jack Richards from the institute's infection and immunity division took a different approach. The team identified carbohydrate molecules similar to the blood-thinning drug heparin, used to treat clotting disorders, which stop parasites from invading red blood cells."
No comments:
Post a Comment