The new drug Nichinon helps reduce the spread of malaria by killing mosquitoes

Controlling mosquito populations is important in the fight against malaria.

Currently, several methods are being used to reduce mosquito populations and the risk of malaria. One of these includes the antiparacidae drug ivermectin. When mosquitoes consume blood containing ivermectin, they shorten the insect's lifespan and help reduce the spread of malaria.

However, Ivermectin has its own problems. Not only is it environmentally toxic, but resistance to ivermectin becomes a concern when it is too much used to treat people and animals with worm and parasite infections.

Now research Science Translation Medicine We have identified another drug that has the potential to suppress mosquito populations and help control malaria. Researchers found that their blood was fatal to mosquitoes when patients took the drug nicitynon.

One way to stop the spread of diseases that insects transmit is to make animal and human blood toxic to these blood-feeding insects. Our findings suggest that the use of nisittinone may be a promising new complementary tool for controlling insect-borne diseases such as malaria. ”

Lee R. Haynes, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame, Honorary Fellow of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and Co-Leader of the Research Authority

Usually, nisitonone is a drug for individuals with rare hereditary diseases, such as alkaptonuria and tyrosinemia type 1, whose body struggles to metabolize the amino acid tyrosine. This drug works by blocking the enzyme 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD), preventing the accumulation of harmful disease byproducts in the human body. When mosquitoes drink blood containing nishitoninone, the drug also blocks this important HPPD enzyme in the body. This prevents mosquitoes from properly digesting their blood and can cause them to die quickly.

The researchers analyzed the concentrations of administered Nishitzinone required to kill mosquitoes and how their results stack up against the gold standard external disease drug ivermectin (drugs that specifically target external products such as mosquitoes).

“I thought Nishittinon had to perform better than Ivermectin if he wanted to go down this route,” said Alvaro Acosta Serrano, a professor of biological sciences at Notre Dame and a co-author of the study. “Indeed, Nitinnon's performance was great. It has a much longer half-life in human blood than ivermectin, meaning that mosquito activity remains circulating much longer in the human body.

The researchers tested the effect of Nishitonon mosquitoes on female Gambia mosquitoes, the main species of mosquito spreading malaria in many African countries. When these mosquitoes are infected with malaria parasites, they spread disease when humans feast on east.

To assess how the drug affected mosquitoes when fed fresh human blood containing Nisitinone, the researchers worked with the Robert Gregory National Alcaptonuria Centre at Royal Liverpool University Hospital. The center conducted the Nishittinon test with people diagnosed with alkaptonuria and then donated blood for the study. People taking nisitonic acid have been found to have blood that is deadly to mosquitoes, which Haynes describes as having a “hidden superpower.”

The researchers collected data on how drugs were metabolized in people's blood, allowing the team to fine-tune the modeling and provide pharmacological validation of Nichinon as a potential mosquito population control strategy.

Nichinon has been shown to last longer than ivermectin in human bloodstream, and has been able to kill mosquitoes of all ages, including the oldest ages most likely to transmit malaria, as well as tough mosquitoes resistant to traditional insecticides.

“In the future, alternating both Nichinon and ivermectin for mosquito control could be an advantage,” Haynes said. “For example, Nichinon can be used in areas where ivermectin resistance is persistent, or in areas where ivermectin is already frequently used by livestock and humans.”

Next, the researchers are looking to explore semi-field trials to determine the dosage of nithine innon, which is the most commonly linked to mosquitoes. Effectiveness In the field.

“Nichinon is a versatile compound that can also be used as an insecticide. What's particularly interesting is that it has become an environmentally friendly option.

An unintended advantage is extending the use of Nichinon as a vector control tool, which can increase drug production and lower drug prices in patients suffering from rare genetic diseases in tyrosine metabolic pathways.

The study was funded by the UK Medical Research Council, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund, the Medical Research Council Doctoral Training Partnership, and the Glasgow Wellcome Center for Glasgow Wellcome Center.

In addition to Acosta-Serrano and Haines, co-authors include Anna Trett (co-first), Jeremy Burrows, Clair Rose, Natalia García, Giancarlo Biagini and Ghaith Aljayyoussi of the Liverpool School of Medicine, avidly attending. Dagmara McGuinness, Clément Regnault, and Michael Barrett, Michael Barrett, of the University of Glasgow's Center for Integrated Parasitology. Didier Leroy and Jeremy Burrows of Drugs for Malaria Ventures. Marcos Starkel of the University of Nacional de la Plata. Lakshminarayanlanganat of Royal Liverpool University Hospital.

This study was conducted primarily by Haynes, Torett, Aljayyusi and Acosta Serrano at the Liverpool Tropical Medicine School.