Parasitology

Biography

Biography: Xavier Fernàndez-Busquets

Abstract

Malaria is arguably one of the main medical concerns worldwide because of the numbers of people affected, the severity of the disease and the complexity of the life cycle of its causative agent, the protist Plasmodium spp. With the advent of nanoscience, renewed hopes have appeared of finally obtaining the long sought-after magic bullet against malaria in the form of a nanovector for the targeted delivery of antimalarial compounds exclusively to Plasmodium-infected red blood cells (pRBCs), thus increasing drug efficacy and minimizing the induction of resistance to newly developed therapeutic agents. We have developed poly(amidoamine)-derived nanovectors that combine into a single chemical structure drug encapsulating capacity, antimalarial activity, low unspecific toxicity, specific pRBC targeting, optimal in vivo activity, and affordable synthesis cost. Our recent data suggest that the antiparasitic mechanism of PAAs can be based on blocking the erythrocyte invasion of egressed parasites. The ensuing prolonged exposure of the pathogens to the immunitary system might be applied to the design of new malaria vaccination approaches where PAAs could play a dual role as carriers of antimalarial drugs and as vaccination adjuvants. This unexpected synergistic effect combining therapeutics and prophylaxis represents a radically new approach to the treatment of malaria for which we propose the new term theralaxis. This research was supported by grants BIO2011-25039 (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain) and 2013-0584 (Fondazione Cariplo, Italy).