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      Drug Design, Development and Therapy (submit here)

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      In vitro Multistage Malaria Transmission Blocking Activity of Selected Malaria Box Compounds

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          Abstract

          Purpose

          Continuous efforts into the discovery and development of new antimalarials are required to face the emerging resistance of the parasite to available treatments. Thus, new effective drugs, ideally able to inhibit the Plasmodium life-cycle stages that cause the disease as well as those responsible for its transmission, are needed. Eight compounds from the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) Malaria Box, potentially interfering with the parasite polyamine biosynthesis were selected and assessed in vitro for activity against malaria transmissible stages, namely mature gametocytes and early sporogonic stages.

          Methods

          Compound activity against asexual blood stages of chloroquine-sensitive 3D7 and chloroquine-resistant W2 strains of Plasmodium falciparum was tested measuring the parasite lactate dehydrogenase activity. The gametocytocidal effect was determined against the P. falciparum 3D7elo1-pfs16-CBG99 strain with a luminescent method. The murine P. berghei CTRP.GFP strain was employed to assess compounds activities against early sporogonic stage development in an in vitro assay simulating mosquito midgut conditions.

          Results

          Among the eight tested molecules, MMV000642, MMV000662 and MMV006429, containing a 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline-4-carboxamide chemical skeleton substituted at N-2, C-3 and C-4, displayed multi-stage activity. Activity against asexual blood stages of both strains was confirmed with values of IC 50 (50% inhibitory concentration) in the range of 0.07–0.13 µM. They were also active against mature stage V gametocytes with IC 50 values below 5 µM (range: 3.43–4.42 µM). These molecules exhibited moderate effects on early sporogonic stage development, displaying IC 50 values between 20 and 40 µM.

          Conclusion

          Given the multi-stage, transmission-blocking profiles of MMV000642, MMV000662, MMV006429, and their chemical characteristics, these compounds can be considered worthy for further optimisation toward a TCP5 or TCP6 target product profile proposed by MMV for transmission-blocking antimalarials.

          Most cited references21

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          New developments in anti-malarial target candidate and product profiles

          A decade of discovery and development of new anti-malarial medicines has led to a renewed focus on malaria elimination and eradication. Changes in the way new anti-malarial drugs are discovered and developed have led to a dramatic increase in the number and diversity of new molecules presently in pre-clinical and early clinical development. The twin challenges faced can be summarized by multi-drug resistant malaria from the Greater Mekong Sub-region, and the need to provide simplified medicines. This review lists changes in anti-malarial target candidate and target product profiles over the last 4 years. As well as new medicines to treat disease and prevent transmission, there has been increased focus on the longer term goal of finding new medicines for chemoprotection, potentially with long-acting molecules, or parenteral formulations. Other gaps in the malaria armamentarium, such as drugs to treat severe malaria and endectocides (that kill mosquitoes which feed on people who have taken the drug), are defined here. Ultimately the elimination of malaria requires medicines that are safe and well-tolerated to be used in vulnerable populations: in pregnancy, especially the first trimester, and in those suffering from malnutrition or co-infection with other pathogens. These updates reflect the maturing of an understanding of the key challenges in producing the next generation of medicines to control, eliminate and ultimately eradicate malaria.
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            Open Source Drug Discovery with the Malaria Box Compound Collection for Neglected Diseases and Beyond

            A major cause of the paucity of new starting points for drug discovery is the lack of interaction between academia and industry. Much of the global resource in biology is present in universities, whereas the focus of medicinal chemistry is still largely within industry. Open source drug discovery, with sharing of information, is clearly a first step towards overcoming this gap. But the interface could especially be bridged through a scale-up of open sharing of physical compounds, which would accelerate the finding of new starting points for drug discovery. The Medicines for Malaria Venture Malaria Box is a collection of over 400 compounds representing families of structures identified in phenotypic screens of pharmaceutical and academic libraries against the Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasite. The set has now been distributed to almost 200 research groups globally in the last two years, with the only stipulation that information from the screens is deposited in the public domain. This paper reports for the first time on 236 screens that have been carried out against the Malaria Box and compares these results with 55 assays that were previously published, in a format that allows a meta-analysis of the combined dataset. The combined biochemical and cellular assays presented here suggest mechanisms of action for 135 (34%) of the compounds active in killing multiple life-cycle stages of the malaria parasite, including asexual blood, liver, gametocyte, gametes and insect ookinete stages. In addition, many compounds demonstrated activity against other pathogens, showing hits in assays with 16 protozoa, 7 helminths, 9 bacterial and mycobacterial species, the dengue fever mosquito vector, and the NCI60 human cancer cell line panel of 60 human tumor cell lines. Toxicological, pharmacokinetic and metabolic properties were collected on all the compounds, assisting in the selection of the most promising candidates for murine proof-of-concept experiments and medicinal chemistry programs. The data for all of these assays are presented and analyzed to show how outstanding leads for many indications can be selected. These results reveal the immense potential for translating the dispersed expertise in biological assays involving human pathogens into drug discovery starting points, by providing open access to new families of molecules, and emphasize how a small additional investment made to help acquire and distribute compounds, and sharing the data, can catalyze drug discovery for dozens of different indications. Another lesson is that when multiple screens from different groups are run on the same library, results can be integrated quickly to select the most valuable starting points for subsequent medicinal chemistry efforts.
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              The Open Access Malaria Box: A Drug Discovery Catalyst for Neglected Diseases

              Historically, one of the key problems in neglected disease drug discovery has been identifying new and interesting chemotypes. Phenotypic screening of the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum has yielded almost 30,000 submicromolar hits in recent years. To make this collection more accessible, a collection of 400 chemotypes has been assembled, termed the Malaria Box. Half of these compounds were selected based on their drug-like properties and the others as molecular probes. These can now be requested as a pharmacological test set by malaria biologists, but importantly by groups working on related parasites, as part of a program to make both data and compounds readily available. In this paper, the analysis and selection methodology and characteristics of the compounds are described.

                Author and article information

                Journal
                Drug Des Devel Ther
                Drug Des Devel Ther
                DDDT
                dddt
                Drug Design, Development and Therapy
                Dove
                1177-8881
                28 April 2020
                2020
                : 14
                : 1593-1607
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Department of Traditional Medicine Research, National Institute for Medical Research , Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
                [2 ]Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche per la Salute , University of Milan , Milan, Italy
                [3 ]Centro Interuniversitario di Ricerca Sulla Malaria/Italian Malaria Network, University of Milan , Milan, Italy
                [4 ]School of Pharmacy, University of Camerino , Camerino, Italy
                [5 ]Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme (CNRFP) , Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
                [6 ]Dipartimento di Scienze Farmacologiche e Biomolecolari, University of Milan , Milan, Italy
                Author notes
                Correspondence: Hamisi M Malebo Department of Traditional Medicine Research, National Institute for Medical Research , Postal Box 9653, Dar es Salaam, TanzaniaTel +255 22 2121400Fax +255 22 2121360 Email hmalebo@gmail.com
                Silvia Parapini Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche per la Salute, University of Milan , Via Pascal 36, 20133, Milan, ItalyTel +39 02 3031 5082Fax +39 02 5031 5093 Email silvia.parapini@unimi.it
                Author information
                http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6081-9120
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6188-5039
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7973-5266
                http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2079-8892
                http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5108-4492
                Article
                242883
                10.2147/DDDT.S242883
                7196193
                86a69e43-1897-44a3-832b-f7d399ecf449
                © 2020 Malebo et al.

                This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/). By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms ( https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php).

                History
                : 18 December 2019
                : 20 March 2020
                Page count
                Figures: 4, Tables: 6, References: 31, Pages: 15
                Categories
                Original Research

                Pharmacology & Pharmaceutical medicine
                plasmodium,multi-stage antimalarials,transmission blocking drugs,malaria elimination

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