Bromophycolide A Targets Heme Crystallization in the Human Malaria Parasite Plasmodium falciparum
Plasmodium falciparum, the most deadly human malaria parasite, poses a major threat to human health worldwide, with over 500 million clinical cases and between one and two million deaths annually.[1] Natural products and their synthetic derivatives have provided a significant number of successful antimalarial treatments to date, representing approximately 65 % of current drugs.[2] Quinine, discovered from cinchona tree bark, has been used to treat malaria for centuries and was the primary antimalarial drug until it was replaced by chloroquine, a synthetic derivative, in the 1940s.[3] Chloroquine became the mainstay antimalarial until resistant strains began to appear nearly a decade after its introduction. Artemisinin, isolated from the plant Artemisia annua used in traditional Chinese medicine, ushered in a new wave of antimalarials and became the most potent and rapid-acting drug available.[4] Several synthetic artemisinin derivatives have since been developed, and artemisinin-based combination therapies are currently in use throughout the world to treat this parasitic disease. However, artemisinin-resistant strains have recently been reported,[5] and new antiparasitic drugs are urgently needed to combat these strains.