Modified osteoporosis drugs show promise against malaria

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have conducted a new study showing how modified bone disease treatments could be useful in combating malaria.

The study has shown how chemically altered forms of the osteoporosis drugs Actonel and Zometa are able to inhibit a key enzyme, geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase (GGPPS), which is involved in isoprenoid biosynthesis processes.

By affecting this enzyme, the drug impairs the malaria parasite's ability to sustain and defend itself from attack by the immune system.

Trials using mice revealed that the experimental drug, BPH-703, was able to cross into the red blood cells of malaria-infected specimens and destroy the parasite, while causing no observed harm to the animals' own cells.

Study co-author Yonghui Zhang said: "We are the first to show that the enzyme GGPPS is a valid target for malaria. Our work gives a new direction to find new anti-malarial drugs."

Figures from the World Health Organization demonstrate that malaria currently threatens around half of the world's population, causing around a million deaths annually.