Scientists from the London's National Institute for Medical Research have identified an enzyme called PfSUB2, also called sheddase, that may serve as a target for an anti-malarial drug. PfSUB2 is an enzyme enables the parasite Plasmodium falciparum to shed its sticky surface proteins, thereby allowing it to invade red blood cells. The researchers were then able to design a specific inhibitor of PfSUB2 which potently prevents shedding of parasite surface proteins, thereby preventing infection. According to lead author Michael Blackman,

"The most exciting practical implication of this work is that it identifies a potential drug target that is quite different from anything that is targeted by existing antimalarial drugs. This is very important, since it is widely agreed that the best way to prevent the appearance of drug resistance in any pathogen is to use combinations of drugs that target distinct biochemical pathways."

An antimalarial drug is yet to be designed based on the PfSUB2 inhibitor. Meanwhile, a different group of researchers seem to be making big strides in the development of a malaria vaccine candidate, having conducted the first malaria vaccine clinical trials:

The vaccine construct was derived from regions fully conserved among various strains and containing B cell epitopes targeted by human antibodies (from malaria-immune adults) that are able to mediate a monocyte-dependent parasite killing effect.

Image: Red blood cell invasion by the malaria merozoite, from NIMR, Blackman Group