Version 1
: Received: 13 April 2024 / Approved: 15 April 2024 / Online: 16 April 2024 (07:39:39 CEST)
How to cite:
Wakai, T.N.; Anzaku, D.O.; Afolabi, I.S. Telomeres and Telomerase as Promising Targets for Malaria Therapy: A Comprehensive Review. Preprints2024, 2024041000. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202404.1000.v1
Wakai, T.N.; Anzaku, D.O.; Afolabi, I.S. Telomeres and Telomerase as Promising Targets for Malaria Therapy: A Comprehensive Review. Preprints 2024, 2024041000. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202404.1000.v1
Wakai, T.N.; Anzaku, D.O.; Afolabi, I.S. Telomeres and Telomerase as Promising Targets for Malaria Therapy: A Comprehensive Review. Preprints2024, 2024041000. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202404.1000.v1
APA Style
Wakai, T.N., Anzaku, D.O., & Afolabi, I.S. (2024). Telomeres and Telomerase as Promising Targets for Malaria Therapy: A Comprehensive Review. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202404.1000.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Wakai, T.N., Dorathy Olo Anzaku and Israel Sunmola Afolabi. 2024 "Telomeres and Telomerase as Promising Targets for Malaria Therapy: A Comprehensive Review" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202404.1000.v1
Abstract
Infection with the malaria parasite Plasmodium, remains a major cause of illness and death world-wide. The development of evasion strategies by the parasite from host immunity and its adaptability to antimalarial drugs has raised the urgency for developing new strategies to combat this disease. One promising avenue is targeting telomeres – sequences found at chromosome termini– and telomerase – the enzyme that catalysis synthesis of telomeres using an intrinsic RNA template. As telomeres shorten critically, cells undergo replicative senescence or apoptosis. Plasmodium, lacking telomerase activity in its human stages, exploits alternative mechanisms, accelerating telomere shortening, aging, and immune evasion. Chemical telomerase inhibitors show promise as antimalarials. In this review, we examine the potential of targeting this system in malaria therapy, with telomerase inhibitors offering a novel approach. A systematic search on PubMed using Boolean techniques identified 246 relevant articles from 1985 to March 31, 2024. After filtering, 43 articles met inclusion criteria, supplemented by snowball sampling. The telomerase inhibitor drug strategy is widely applicable against cancer. However, given the drugability of telomerase and the absolute requirement for active telomere maintenance in the vast majority of parasites including plasmodium, telomerase and telomere maintenance could well represent the Achilles heel of the parasite
Biology and Life Sciences, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
