African Journal of Malaria and Tropical Diseases

Review

A study of malaria resistance and the urgent need to discover new antimalarials

S. Ravichandran¹*, K. Kathiresan¹ and Hemalatha Balaram²

¹Centre of Advanced Study in Marine Biology (Annamalai University),Parangipettai – 608 502, India.

²Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Jakkur, Bangalore- 560 064, India.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected], Tel: + 914144 243223, 243533. Fax: + 91 4144 243555.

Accepted 22 March, 2015

Abstract

Malaria, which is caused by multiplication of the protozoan parasite Plasmodium falciparum in erythrocytes, is a major health problem in many southern countries. There is an urgent need to discover new antimalarials, due to the spread of chloroquinine resistance and the limited number of available drugs. Among marine invertebrates, Porifera (sponges) are potential source of novel bioactive compounds to provide future drugs against malaria, cancer and a range of viral diseases. A number of sponge-derived antimalarials have been discovered during the last decade. The compounds are mostly nitrogen containing ones (proteins, pyridines, tyrosine-based metabolites, alkaloids, indoles and amides) and also non-nitrogenous compounds (terpenes, polyketides and polysaccharides).

Keywords: Malaria, Plasmodium falciparum, porifera, marine sponges, bioactive compounds, antimalarial compounds.