SYDNEY, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- Researchers in two institutions in Melbourne, Australia, have collaborated to deliver a "world-first breakthrough" in malaria treatment, they said on Tuesday.
The collaboration between La Trobe University and AdAlta, a clinical-stage drug development company, has led to a discovery that could enable a whole new approach to treating malaria, the university said in a media release.
Malaria is a life-threatening disease spread to humans by some types of mosquitoes. There were 247 million cases of malaria in 2021 across the world, with an estimated 619,000 deaths, the university said.
AdAlta uses its proprietary i-body technology platform to solve challenging drug-targeting problems, and generate therapeutics with the potential to treat some of today's most challenging medical conditions, according to the researchers.
The La Trobe University AdAlta research has led to the discovery of new i-bodies that protect human cells from invasion by malaria and related parasites, they said.
"To date, no antibody-like molecule has been able to combine the ability to bind strongly to multiple strains of malaria parasite with high potency killing," said Mick Foley, a professor of La Trobe University and founding chief scientist of AdAlta who directed the research work.
"This incredible variability between strains has plagued all previous attempts to produce a single antibody that can inhibit parasite invasion," he said.
"With our approach, we have been able to develop a treatment that essentially protects the human body from becoming infected at two different lifecycle stages of the parasite, and across multiple strains, which will open up new avenues to malaria treatment," Foley said.
AdAlta and La Trobe University are now in the process of exploring opportunities to further the potential of this discovery, according to the media release. ■
