Spread of parasite resistance to artemisinin threatens current frontline antimalarial therapies, highlighting the need for new drugs with alternative modes of action. Since only 0.2–1% of asexual parasites differentiate into sexual, transmission-competent forms, targeting this natural bottleneck provides a tangible route to interrupt disease transmission and mitigate resistance selection. Here we present a high-throughput screen of gametogenesis against a ~70,000 compound diversity library, identifying seventeen drug-like molecules that target transmission. Hit molecules possess varied activity profiles including male-specific, dual acting male–female and dual-asexual-sexual, with one promising N-((4-hydroxychroman-4-yl)methyl)-sulphonamide scaffold found to have sub-micromolar activity in vitro and in vivo efficacy. Development of leads with modes of action focussed on the sexual stages of malaria parasite development provide a previously unexplored base from which future therapeutics can be developed, capable of preventing parasite transmission through the population.
Resistance to artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) in the Plasmodium falciparum parasite is threatening to reverse recent gains in reducing global deaths from malaria. Whilst resistance manifests as delayed parasite clearance in patients the phenotype can only spread geographically via the sexual stages and mosquito transmission. In addition to their asexual killing properties, artemisinin and its derivatives sterilise sexual male gametocytes. Whether resistant parasites overcome this sterilising effect has not, however, been fully tested. Here, we analysed P. falciparum clinical isolates from the Greater Mekong Subregion, each demonstrating delayed clinical clearance and known resistance-associated polymorphisms in Kelch13 (PfK13var). As well as demonstrating reduced asexual sensitivity to drug, certain PfK13var isolates demonstrated a marked reduction in sensitivity to artemisinin in an in vitro male gamete formation assay. Importantly, this same reduction in sensitivity was observed when the most resistant isolate was tested directly in mosquito feeds. These results indicate that, under artemisinin drug pressure, whilst sensitive parasites are blocked, resistant parasites continue transmission. This selective advantage for resistance transmission could favour acquisition of additional host-specificity or polymorphisms affecting partner drug sensitivity in mixed infections. Favoured resistance transmission under ACT coverage could have profound implications for the spread of multidrug resistant malaria beyond Southeast Asia.
In recent years, the research agenda to tackle global morbidity and mortality from malaria disease has shifted towards innovation, in the hope that efforts at the frontiers of scientific research may re-invigorate gains made towards eradication. Discovery of new antimalarial drugs with novel chemotypes or modes of action lie at the heart of these efforts. There is a particular interest in drug candidates that target stages of the malaria parasite lifecycle beyond the symptomatic asexual blood stages. This is especially important given the spectre of emerging drug resistance to all current frontline antimalarials. One approach gaining increased interest is the potential of designing novel drugs that target parasite passage from infected individual to feeding mosquito and back again. Action of such therapeutics is geared much more at the population level rather than just concerned with the infected individual. The search for novel drugs active against these stages has been helped by improvements to in vitro culture of transmission and pre-erythrocytic parasite lifecycle stages, robotic automation and high content imaging, methodologies that permit the high-throughput screening (HTS) of compound libraries for drug discovery. Here, we review recent advances in the antimalarial screening landscape, focussed on transmission blocking as a key aim for drug-treatment campaigns of the future.
Microscopic examination of blood smears remains the gold standard for laboratory inspection and diagnosis of malaria. Smear inspection is, however, time-consuming and dependent on trained microscopists with results varying in accuracy. We sought to develop an automated image analysis method to improve accuracy and standardization of smear inspection that retains capacity for expert confirmation and image archiving. Here, we present a machine learning method that achieves red blood cell (RBC) detection, differentiation between infected/uninfected cells, and parasite life stage categorization from unprocessed, heterogeneous smear images. Based on a pretrained Faster Region-Based Convolutional Neural Networks (R-CNN) model for RBC detection, our model performs accurately, with an average precision of 0.99 at an intersection-over-union threshold of 0.5. Application of a residual neural network-50 model to infected cells also performs accurately, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.98. Finally, combining our method with a regression model successfully recapitulates intraerythrocytic developmental cycle with accurate lifecycle stage categorization. Combined with a mobile-friendly web-based interface, called PlasmoCount, our method permits rapid navigation through and review of results for quality assurance. By standardizing assessment of Giemsa smears, our method markedly improves inspection reproducibility and presents a realistic route to both routine lab and future field-based automated malaria diagnosis.
Malaria is still a leading cause of mortality among children in the developing world, and despite the immense progress made in reducing the global burden, further efforts are needed if eradication is to be achieved. In this context, targeting transmission is widely recognized as a necessary intervention towards that goal. After carrying out a screen to discover new transmission-blocking agents, herein we report our medicinal chemistry efforts to study the potential of the most robust hit, DDD01035881, as a male-gamete targeted compound. We reveal key structural features for the activity of this series and identify analogues with greater potency and improved metabolic 2 stability. We believe this study lays the groundwork for further development of this series as a transmission blocking agent. 3 130±30 6 128±10 34 > 1000 35 785±48 36 > 25000 37 > 10000 38 196±19 39 83±13 40 364±47 41 79±18 42 > 25000 43 > 25000 44 > 25000 45 > 25000 a Biological evaluation was carried out using the DGFA under the specific "add-in" format. Compounds were incubated at variable concentrations with fresh gametocytes, and their ability to impair exflagellation of male gametes determined. Values below 1 µM are expressed as the mean±SEM obtained from between three and eight biological replicates, each carried out in at least duplicate. All synthesised analogues resulted in a significant loss of activity, with the exception of fluorinated derivatives 38-41 (Table 2). Compounds 39 and 41 even show a slight improvement in potency over 6. Once again, these results suggest the binding site of this series within the target(s) to be reasonably confined. Indeed, in contrast to other substituents, fluorine is very similar in size to hydrogen, which could explain why analogues 38-41 retain activity. It should be highlighted that fluorine is widely used within drug discovery to improve permeability by increasing lipophilicity and to address pharmacokinetic issues such as oxidative metabolism, 21 the latter being interesting in the context of this work (vide infra).
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