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Artemisinin-based combination with curcumin adds a new dimension to malaria therapy

Padmanaban, Govindarajan and Nagaraj, Arun V and Rangarajan, Pundi N (2012) Artemisinin-based combination with curcumin adds a new dimension to malaria therapy. In: Current Science (Bangalore), 102 (5). pp. 704-711.

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Abstract

Malaria afflicts 300 million people worldwide, with over a million deaths every year. With no immediate prospect of a vaccine against the disease, drugs are the only choice to treat it. Unfortunately, the parasite has become resistant to most antimalarials, restricting the option to use artemisinins (ARTs) for effective cure. With the use of ARTs as the front-line antimalarials, reports are already available on the possible resistance development to these drugs as well. Therefore, it has become necessary to use ART-based combination therapies to delay emergence of resistance. It is also necessary to discover new pharmacophores to eventually replace ART. Studies in our laboratory have shown that curcumin not only synergizes with ART as an antimalarial to kill the parasite, but is also uniquely able to prime the immune system to protect against parasite recrudescence in the animal model. The results indicate a potential for the use of ART curcumin combination against recrudescence/relapse in falciparum and vivax malaria. In addition, studies have also suggested the use of curcumin as an adjunct therapy against cerebral malaria. In this review we have attempted to highlight these aspects as well as the studies directed to discover new pharmacophores as potential replacements for ART.

Item Type: Journal Article
Publication: Current Science (Bangalore)
Publisher: Indian Academy of Sciences
Additional Information: Copyright of this article belongs to Indian Academy of Sciences.
Keywords: Artemisinin;combination therapy;curcumin;malaria
Department/Centre: Division of Biological Sciences > Biochemistry
Date Deposited: 12 May 2012 10:17
Last Modified: 12 May 2012 10:20
URI: http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/44394

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