Rising KashmirRising KashmirRising Kashmir
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • News
    • Kashmir
    • City
    • Jammu
    • Politics
  • Health
  • Anchor
  • Features
  • Interview
  • Video
Search

Archives

  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022

Categories

  • Anchor
  • Breaking
  • Business
  • City
  • Developing Story
  • Editorial
  • Education
  • Features
  • Health
  • Interview
  • Jammu
  • Jammu and Kashmir News
  • Kashmir
  • Kashmir Tourism
  • Kath Bath
  • National
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Technology
  • Top Stories
  • Trending
  • Uncategorized
  • Video
  • Viewpoint
  • World
© 2022 Foxiz News Network. Ruby Design Company. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Research: Cancer drug could be used against malaria
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Rising KashmirRising Kashmir
Font ResizerAa
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • News
  • Health
  • Anchor
  • Features
  • Interview
  • Video
Search
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • News
    • Kashmir
    • City
    • Jammu
    • Politics
  • Health
  • Anchor
  • Features
  • Interview
  • Video
Follow US
© 2024. All Rights Reserved.
Rising Kashmir > Blog > Breaking > Research: Cancer drug could be used against malaria
Breaking

Research: Cancer drug could be used against malaria

ANI
Last updated: October 27, 2022 3:43 pm
ANI
Published: October 27, 2022
Share
7 Min Read
SHARE

A cancer treatment presently in clinical testing has the potential to guard against, cure, and prevent malaria transmission. The groundbreaking discovery by a multinational team led by Penn State researchers gives new hope against a disease that kills over 500,000 people each year, disproportionately impacting children under the age of five, pregnant women, and HIV patients.

The research team, led by experts from the University of Cape Town (UCT), published their findings in the journal Science Translational Medicine. “Disruptions to malaria vaccinations, treatment, and care during the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with increasing reports of resistance to first-line artemisinin-based combination therapies have led to an increase of malaria cases and deaths worldwide,” said Manuel Llinas, distinguished professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and of chemistry at Penn State. “The identification of new ways to treat the disease is crucial for malaria control. Ideal treatments would operate differently than current front-line drugs to circumvent current drug resistance and act on multiple targets or stages of the parasite’s life cycle in order to slow future resistance.”

The researchers wanted to see if sapanisertib, a medicine now in clinical trials for the treatment of tumors such as breast cancer, endometrial cancer, glioblastoma, renal cell carcinoma, and thyroid cancer, could be used to treat malaria.

Sapanisertib has the ability to guard against, cure, and prevent malaria transmission by killing the malaria parasite at various phases of its life cycle inside its human host. This includes when the parasite is in the host’s liver, where it first develops and multiplies; when it is in the host’s red blood cells, where clinical signs are detected; and when it splits sexually within the host’s red blood cells to generate the parasite’s transmissible forms. Because the transmissible form is normally taken up by the female Anopheles mosquito during a blood meal and carried on to infect another person during subsequent blood meals, eliminating the parasite should also prevent subsequent infections.

The researchers also discovered that sapanisertib inhibits various proteins called kinases in the malaria parasite, which is how the medicine kills the human malaria parasite.

Sapanisertib’s multistage activity and antimalarial efficacy, combined with potent inhibition of multiple protein targets — including at least two that have previously been shown to be vulnerable targets for chemotherapeutic intervention — will serve as the foundation for future research into the potential of repurposing sapanisertib to treat malaria.
Repurposing existing drugs

The research team used a technique known as drug repurposing, which tries to uncover new uses for an existing drug approved by a regulatory agency in one illness area but not in another. This strategy is used to avoid the difficulties of discovering and developing a new medicine from scratch, which is a time-consuming and expensive procedure with minimal returns in terms of the number of drugs that eventually make it to market.

“The problem is amplified in neglected and tropical diseases such as malaria where existing resources are strained and the financial returns low,” said Kelly Chibale, founder and director of the UCT Drug Discovery and Development Centre, Neville Isdell Chair in African-centric Drug Discovery and Development at UCT, and leader of the research team. “The drug repurposing approach of investigating existing drugs as potential therapies for other diseases shortens the process as in most cases the candidates, in this case, sapanisertib, will have been through several stages of clinical development and will have well-known exposure and safety profiles in humans.”

While novel uses for approved treatments have occasionally been discovered by chance in the drug repurposing approach, strategies exist to identify drugs that can be used for other diseases rationally. In this investigation, the researchers used medicines that act on human protein targets and may be active on similar protein targets in the malaria parasite.

Tarrick Qahash, an undergraduate turned technician in Penn State’s Llinas lab, employed mass spectrometry-based metabolomics to determine the parasite’s reaction to a number of antimalarial drugs as part of the Malaria Drug Accelerator project supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

“In cancer, sapanisertib inhibits a protein kinase called mTOR that regulates a variety of cellular processes, including immune response and autophagy. However, until this study, it was unclear how it would affect the malaria parasite,” said Llinas. “We used a process called metabolic fingerprint profiling and found that the parasite’s response to sapanisertib resembled inhibition by other protein kinase inhibitors we had investigated. Through its effects on the parasite’s metabolism of hemoglobin–a protein that carries oxygen through the blood–we determined that sapanisertib primarily inhibits the kinase called PfPI4Kb, but we also found that it can target a kinase called PKG.”

Because of their relevance in cellular function, kinases have been widely researched as therapeutic targets in numerous disorders. This makes them appealing for use in other disorders, such as malaria. Kinase targets that are required for various phases of the malaria parasite life cycle have previously been discovered.

Potential impact
This research opens up new possibilities for the rational creation of malaria medications that target two or more protein targets in the malaria parasite. This could also benefit patients in a clinical setting since it makes it more difficult for the parasite to build resistance to a treatment that kills through numerous routes.

Recognizing the possible safety issues associated with utilizing a cancer medicine to treat malaria, the study team is now working to understand the drivers of sapanisertib efficacy, dose needs, and therapeutic window for malaria. The goal is to assess how the estimated human dose of sapanisertib for malaria differs from the maximum tolerated dose used to treat cancer.

“This work highlights the importance of local and international research partnerships to solve critical human challenges based on mutual interest and responsibility,” said Chibale. “It demonstrates how advances in science and medicine can be made when industry and academic institutions share knowledge and expertise.” (ANI)

Amid heavy Snowfall all major roads are open in Kupwara: Officials
Dussehra festival celebrated with religious fervor across Rajouri district
Srinagar echoes support for Mehbooba Mufti’s resolute stance amidst turbulent times: Waheed Para
4 JeM Terrorist Associates Arrested in South Kashmir’s Awantipora: Police 
Pakistan to conduct surface-to-surface missile test off Karachi coast in wake of Pahalgam terror attack

Sign Up For Daily Newsletter

Be keep up! Get the latest breaking news delivered straight to your inbox.
By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.
Share This Article
Facebook Whatsapp Whatsapp Copy Link Print
Previous Article Several people injured as minu bus skids in Poonch
Next Article 10-Day Entrepreneurship Development Programme inaugurated by Director, JKEDI at Reasi & Budgam
Leave a Comment Leave a Comment

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Stay Connected

1MFollowersLike
262kFollowersFollow
InstagramFollow
234kSubscribersSubscribe
Google NewsFollow

Latest News

Srinagar residents demand action as car dealers continue illegal parking practices
City
May 28, 2025
Delays mar completion of B&J Hospital’s new block, manpower sanctioning
City
May 28, 2025
DPS Srinagar students shine on ‘Global Stage’ with prestigious scholarships
City
May 28, 2025
SKUAST-K, distribute rearing items among adopted Seri-farmers in Barmaulla
Kashmir
May 28, 2025

Recent Posts

  • Srinagar residents demand action as car dealers continue illegal parking practices
  • Delays mar completion of B&J Hospital’s new block, manpower sanctioning
  • DPS Srinagar students shine on ‘Global Stage’ with prestigious scholarships
  • SKUAST-K, distribute rearing items among adopted Seri-farmers in Barmaulla
  • Black glass panels made mandatory at all meat shops in Leh for public health, civic aesthetics

Recent Comments

  1. SavePlus on AI and Behavioural Analytics in Gaming: Making the World of Gaming Better
  2. Parul on Govt acknowledges faulty streetlights on Narbal-Tangmarg road
  3. dr gora on Women Veterinarians and the Goal of Viksit Bharat
  4. jalwa game login on National Education Policy 2020: Transforming India’s Educational System
  5. Virender Bhat on Pahalgam Attack: A War on Humanity, Peace, and Kashmiriyat

Contact Us

Flat No 7,Press Enclave, Srinagar, 190001
0194 2477887
9971795706
[email protected]
[email protected]

Quick Link

  • E-Paper
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Top Categories

Stay Connected

1.06MLike
262.5kFollow
InstagramFollow
234.3kSubscribe
WhatsAppFollow
Rising KashmirRising Kashmir
Follow US
© 2025. All Rights Reserved.
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?