Isolation of Antimalarial Agents From Indonesian Medicinal Plants: Swietenia mahagoni and Pluchea indica

Malaria is a neglected tropical disease that still demands serious efforts to tackle successfully, including the need for new antimalarial lead compounds to combat drug-resistant Plasmodium. Intensive phytochemical and pharmacological investigation into the Indonesian medicinal plants Swietenia mahagoni and Pluchea indica successfully revealed 5 constituents. Antimalarial bioassays indicated 34,5-tri- O-caffeoylquinic acid (4) to be the most active against Plasmodium falciparum 3D7 and Dd2 strains with IC50 values of 8.2 and 8.8 µM, respectively. No cytotoxicity was observed against Human Embryonic Kidney cells at a concentration of 40 µM.

Artemisinin and Derivatives-Based Hybrid Compounds: Promising Therapeutics for the Treatment of Cancer and Malaria

Cancer and malaria are major health conditions around the world despite many strategies and therapeutics available for their treatment. The most used strategy for the treatment of these diseases is the administration of therapeutic drugs, which suffer from several shortcomings. Some of the pharmacological limitations associated with these drugs are multi-drug resistance, drug toxicity, poor biocompatibility and bioavailability, and poor water solubility. The currently ongoing preclinical studies have demonstrated that combination therapy is a potent approach that can overcome some of the aforementioned limitations. Artemisinin and its derivatives have been reported to exhibit potent efficacy as anticancer and antimalarial agents. This review reports hybrid compounds containing artemisinin scaffolds and their derivatives with promising therapeutic effects for the treatment of cancer and malaria.

A contemporary chemical entities infiltrating in the antimalarial therapy era: a comprehensive review

Malaria, a life-threatening disease, is caused by parasitic single-celled microorganisms. It is specifically transmitted by the anopheles female mosquito of the Plasmodium family. There are a lot of drugs available in the market to treat this life-challenging disease. Chloroquine, a cheaper molecule that is available worldwide, is one of them. Drug resistance has been observed with chloroquine as well as with some other quinine derivatives and with artemisinin derivatives in the southeast region of Asia in countries like Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, and Vietnam country since 1957. After 1970, the drug resistance has been further increased and it has been expanded in several localities of India. Also, antimalarial agents, particularly chloroquine, have so many side effects such as nausea, vomiting, blurred vision, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, headache, appetite loss, deprivation of hearing, skin color change, baldness, reduced body weight, and seizures. Furthermore, this drug cannot be given to pregnant women. Hence, it is the right time to design and develop newer antimalarial agents so that this kind of drug resistance, as well as side effects of the drugs, can be overcome.

Antimalarial Flavonoid-Glycoside from Acacia pennata with Inhibitory Potential Against PfDHFR-TS: An In-silico Study

Drug resistance, toxicity, and adverse effects of current antimalarial drugs have mandated the need to search for newer antimalarial agents. The present study aims to identify promising flavonoid-glycosides (FGs) from Acacia pennata as possible antimalarial agents effective against PfDHFR-TS (PDB ID: 3DGA) by in-silico studies. The co-crystal inhibitor (RJ1) of PfDHFR-TS was used as the reference standard compound. A compound library of 17 FGs reported to be isolated from A. pennata was prepared and subjected to molecular docking simulation studies. PyRx 0.8 and AutoDock Vina revealed Pinocembrin-7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (FG17) as the best PfDHFR-TS inhibitor with a binding affinity of -10.4 kcal/mol and -10.8 kcal/mol, respectively. In both methods, FG17 has a better binding affinity than the co-crystal inhibitor, RJ1 (-7.9 kcal/mol). The docking protocols were validated by RMSD calculation with Discovery Studio Visualizer software (2020). FG17 interacted with amino acids ALA16, LEU40, SER167, GLY41, GLY44, MET55, PHE58, ILE112, LEU119, GLY166, and TYR170 at the active binding site of PfDHFR-TS. Further, FG17 was computed as a non-toxic, bioavailable, synthetically accessible compound and a better enzyme inhibitor than RJ1. Hence, we conclude that FG17 may be used as a lead scaffold to design antimalarial agents against PfDHFR-TS in the future.

Antimalarial Activity of Hydromethanolic Crude Extract and Chloroform Fraction of Brucea antidysenterica Leaves in Plasmodium berghei-Infected Mice

Background. Different parts of Brucea antidysenterica are used in traditional and alternative medicine in Ethiopia for the treatment of different health problems including malaria and have good in vitro antimalarial activity. However, no in vivo study was conducted to substantiate the claim. Our study planned to determine the antimalarial effect of B. antidysenterica extract. Methods. Swiss albino mice (6–8 weeks old, 20–28 g) were inoculated with Plasmodium berghei. Different doses of both hydromethanolic extract and chloroform fraction were orally given at 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg/day. Results. The parasitemia suppression percent of hydromethanolic crude extract and chloroform fraction in chemosuppressive tests ranged between 33.48 and 75.93% and 38.32 and 76.64%, respectively. The hydromethanolic crude extract and chloroform fraction exhibited the curative effect of 46.75–70.91% and 50.30–80.06% parasitemia suppression, respectively ( p < 0.001), compared with negative control. Conclusion. From our study, it is concluded that the hydromethanolic crude extract and chloroform fraction of B. antidysenterica leaves showed promising antiplasmodial effects against Plasmodium berghei. This upholds the folkloric use of B. antidysenterica leaves and the thought of as a possible source to develop new antimalarial agents.

The Potential use of a Curcumin-Piperine Combination as an Antimalarial Agent: A Systematic Review

Malaria remains a significant global health problem, but the development of effective antimalarial drugs is challenging due to the parasite’s complex life cycle and lack of knowledge about the critical specific stages. Medicinal plants have been investigated as adjuvant therapy for malaria, so this systematic review summarizes 46 primary articles published until December 2020 that discuss curcumin and piperine as antimalarial agents. The selected articles discussed their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antiapoptosis properties, as well as their mechanism of action against Plasmodium species. Curcumin is a potent antioxidant, damages parasite DNA, and may promote an immune response against Plasmodium by increasing reactive oxygen species (ROS), while piperine is also a potent antioxidant that potentiates the effects of curcumin. Hence, combining these compounds is likely to have the same effect as chloroquine, that is, attenuate and restrict parasite development, thereby reducing parasitemia and increasing host survival. This systematic review presents new information regarding the development of a curcumin-piperine combination for future malaria therapy.