Brussels (dpa) - European researchers have found that chemotherapy
drugs used to treat cancer also kill the parasite that causes
malaria, in what the European Commission on Tuesday hailed as a
breakthrough in the fight against the deadly mosquito-borne disease.
"This discovery could lead to an effective anti-malaria treatment
that would save millions of lives and transform countless others,"
the European Union's research commissioner, Maire Geoghegan-Quinn,
said in a statement.
The research was led by EU-funded laboratories in Britain, France
and Switzerland. They found that the malaria's plasmodium parasite
"hijacks" enzymes in human cells to multiply and that it can be
stopped from doing so with chemotherapy drugs.
Scientists believe that the discovery will open the door to making
cells inhospitable for plasmodium, rather than attacking the parasite
directly - an approach that has been hampered by the plasmodium's
ability to quickly become drug resistant.
"This strategy deprives the parasite of a major modus operandi for
development of drug resistance," the commission said.
The World Health Organization had warned in January that the world
risked "losing its most potent treatment for malaria" because of
drug-resistant parasites, as some have already been found on the
border between Cambodia and Thailand.
Although chemotherapy drugs come with notorious side effects, they
are expected to be less acute in the case of malaria because of its
shorter treatment period.
How to best use the drugs against malaria will now be tested in
clinical trials, before researchers seek authorization to make them
available worldwide for treatment of the disease.
The world is set to mark its annual Malaria Day on April 25.
According to the WHO, the disease in 2009 infected some 225 million
people, killing nearly 800,000.
It was the leading killer of children under 5 years old and
infants in Africa, even though it is treatable.
"The ultimate goal is the complete eradication of the global
scourge of malaria," Geoghegan-Quinn said. "Collaborative work across
many borders is the only way of confronting such global challenges
effectively."
Copyright 2011 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH