Abstract
Parasites are responsible for a wide variety of infectious diseases causing an enormous health and economical blight. Malaria is one such prominent disease that causes widespread infections in humans and results in innumerable deaths annually. The development of resistance of the malarial parasites to the conventional drugs has signaled for an urgent need to design new drugs in an effective way and also to identify and study new drug targets to combat this disease. The rational design of a drug is usually based on the biochemical and physiological differences between the pathogen and the host. So in this current study we focus on the striking differences in the purine metabolism of the malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum and that of the host. Based on this, we submit a hypothesis on targeting a protein Adenosine deaminase that plays an important role in the purine metabolism of the parasite. In this study a synthetic and a natural drug were used and their efficacy was compared and analyzed.
Recommended Citation
Sriram, S.; Srilakshmi, J. Kavitha; Meenaa, V.; and Sasikumar, C.
(2009)
"Adenosine deaminase from Plasmodium falciparum as a Potential Drug Target in Anti- Malarial Drug Designing: A Bioinformatic Approach,"
Ethnobotanical Leaflets: Vol. 2009:
Iss.
5, Article 9.
Available at:
https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/ebl/vol2009/iss5/9