https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-10/bifg-ets102820.php
News Release 28-Oct-2020
Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal)
Exposure to suboptimal doses of the antiparasitic drug artemisinin could increase the sexual conversion rate of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, thereby increasing the probability of transmission, according to a study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal)
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The malaria parasite P. falciparum replicates asexually in human blood every 48 hours, causing the typical clinical symptoms of the disease. At each replication cycle, a small number of parasites take a different pathway: that of sexual conversion to generate gametocytes. This sexual form of the parasite is the only one that can be transmitted to the mosquito. Sexual conversion is a highly regulated process, since the parasite needs to maintain a balance between asexual replication within the host and transmission between hosts. "From an evolutionary point of view, the parasite's capacity to adjust its sexual conversion rate in response to the host's conditions is clearly advantageous," explains Alfred Cortés, ICREA researcher at ISGlobal and study coordinator. One factor that clearly decreases the parasite's "comfort" within the host is exposure to parasite-killing drugs.
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