Pine bark and sponge compounds could counter drug-resistant malaria and babesiosis
As parasites become increasingly resistant to existing drugs, researchers at the University of California, Riverside, are working to develop a new generation of treatments for two serious infectious diseases: malaria and babesiosis.
Researchers at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) are developing novel compounds to combat drug-resistant malaria and babesiosis. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has granted over $8 million to fund two projects at UCR, UC Irvine, and Yale University. Malaria and babesiosis are caused by parasites that invade red blood cells, making it possible to develop treatments effective against both diseases.
However, parasites are becoming increasingly resistant to existing drugs. Two promising classes of antiparasitic compounds, leelamine-derived isonitriles (LDIs) from pine bark and pyrroloiminoquinones (PIQs) from marine sponges, show potent activity against these parasites. The goal is to optimize the compounds, evaluate their safety, test them in preclinical models, and understand their mechanisms of action to potentially create an affordable oral treatment that could also prevent transmission.
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