Principal Investigator (PI)
Chookajorn’s laboratory at the Faculty of Tropical Medicine at Mahidol University
The Foundation is providing £104,916 in support.
Dr. Krittikorn Kumpornsin
GSK allocated in-kind contribution to the project, including extensive screening exercise and drug discovery mentoring. GSK will provide access to Biosafety Level 3 facilities to conduct in vitro malaria studies and to GSK´s collection of compounds for screening campaigns.
Project Description: Artemisinin is an effective drug used for the treatment of Plasmodium falciparum malaria. The drug can quickly clear the parasites from the patients because of its broad activity against every stage within human red blood cells. Despite its effectiveness in saving lives, the target of artemisinin is not yet identified, preventing the possibility of exploiting a similar inhibitory mechanism for drug development. The lack of understanding has become a pressing issue now more than ever because of the rise in artemisinin resistance in Southeast Asia. It has been reported that certain oxidizing agents have the potential to moderately modulate the sensitivity level of artemisinin. This observation suggests the possibility that the effect of artemisinin on parasites could be manipulated by chemical compounds. The plan is to screen for compounds that can overcome artemisinin resistance, by “resensitizing” artemisinin-resistant parasites from patients with delayed clearance. The putative compounds are likely to interfere with the target of artemisinin or resistance mechanism. The innovation of the project proposal comes from the use of natural P.falciparum isolates from the patients with delayed parasite clearance by artemisinin that have been adapted for in vitro culture. These natural isolates provide a unique resource for screening purposes. The proposed duration of the project is 15 months and will involve a close collaboration between the University of Mahidol and GSK Medicine Development Campus at Tres Cantos.