Purine Prohibition — In a paper recently published in Chemistry & Biology, Dr. Vern Schramm and MSTP student Keith Hazleton describe a novel approach that may prove effective in treating malaria, the disease caused by the parasite Plasmodium falciparum that causes 800,000 deaths per year. Their research team used acyclic immucilin phosphonates (AIPs) to inhibit hypoxanthine-guanine-xanthine phosphoribosyltransferase (HGXPRT). This enzyme is essential to the parasite for making purines, a group of organic compounds with many critical functions that include serving as one of the building blocks of DNA. The use of AIPs blocked HGXPRT’s function, resulting in the death of P. falciparum parasites that were in infected red blood cells, which are a primary target in human malarial infection. The duo’s findings validate HGXPRT’s viability as a potentially effective drug target for treating malaria. Dr. Schramm is the professor and chair of biochemistry, and the Ruth Merns Chair in Biochemistry.
Posted on: Thursday, August 23, 2012