Transporter-Mediated Solutes Uptake as Drug Target in Plasmodium falciparum

Júlio César Monteiro Júnior; Arne Krüger; Giuseppe Palmisano; Carsten Wrenger

doi:10.3389/fphar.2022.845841

Transporter-Mediated Solutes Uptake as Drug Target in Plasmodium falciparum

Front Pharmacol. 2022 Feb 7:13:845841. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2022.845841. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Júlio César Monteiro Júnior¹, Arne Krüger¹, Giuseppe Palmisano², Carsten Wrenger¹

Affiliations

¹ Unit for Drug Discovery, Department of Parasitology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
² GlycoProteomics Laboratory, Department of Parasitology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.

Abstract

Malaria remains a public health problem with still more than half a million deaths annually. Despite ongoing efforts of many countries, malaria elimination has been difficult due to emerging resistances against most traditional drugs, including artemisinin compounds - the most potent antimalarials currently available. Therefore, the discovery and development of new drugs with novel mechanisms of action to circumvent resistances is urgently needed. In this sense, one of the most promising areas is the exploration of transport proteins. Transporters mediate solute uptake for intracellular parasite proliferation and survival. Targeting transporters can exploit these processes to eliminate the parasite. Here, we focus on transporters of the Plasmodium falciparum-infected red blood cell studied as potential biological targets and discuss published drugs directed at them.

Keywords: P. falciparum; malaria; new drugs; resistance; solute uptake; transporters.

Publication types

Review