Modified osteoporosis drug kills malaria in mice

A chemically altered osteoporosis drug may be useful in fighting malaria, researchers report in a new study. Unlike similar compounds tested against many other parasitic protozoa, the drug readily crosses into the red blood cells of malaria-infected mice and kills the malaria parasite. The drug works at very low concentrations with no observed toxicity to the mouse.

The study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers found the drug by screening a library of about 1,000 compounds used in previous efforts to target an important biochemical pathway (called isoprenoid biosynthesis) in cancer and in disease-causing organisms. The new drug lead, BPH-703, inhibits a key enzyme in isoprenoid biosynthesis that enables the malaria parasite to sustain itself and defend itself from the host immune system. The drug has little effect on the same chemical pathway in human or mouse cells, said University of Illinois chemistry professor Eric Oldfield, who led the study.

The paper, “Lipophilic analogs of zoledronate and risedronate inhibit Plasmodium GGPPS and exhibit potent anti-malarial activity,” is available from the U. of I. News Bureau.