An Effective Anti-Malarial Compound, Moving Quickly (IMAGE)
Caption
This figure shows the 3-D chemical structure (top left) of the new antimalarial compound from Novartis, NITD609, and its effectiveness in curing malaria in a mouse model (top right). The data show percent survival over time following infection of mice with rodent malarial parasites followed by oral administration of a single dose of NITD609 compared to a panel of standard antimalarials. Only NITD609 provided complete cure with a single dose. The bottom left panel shows a red blood cell adjacent to four individual human malaria parasites (Plasmodium falciparum) capable of invading the human cell and initiating disease. The bottom right panel shows a parasite developing inside an infected cell. The scale bar is 5 μm. The green coloration reveals the location of the parasite protein PfATP4, and blue reveals the presence of parasite DNA. PfATP4 is able to mutate to mediate low-level resistance and is a possible target of this compound. NITD609 is a representative of the spiroindolones, a novel chemical class that has great promise as a future antimalarial drug with a new mode of action. This image relates to an article that appeared in the Sept. 3, 2010, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The study, by Dr. M. Rottmann of Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Basel, Switzerland, and colleagues was titled, "Spiroindolones, a Potent Compound Class for the Treatment of Malaria."
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