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Naturally occurring phenylethanoids and phenylpropanoids: antimalarial potential

Research Authors
Usama Ramadan Abdelmohsen, Soad AL Bayoumi, Nesma M Mohamed, Yaser A Mostafa, Che J Ngwa, Gabriele Pradel, Salwa F Farag
Research Date
Research Department
Research Journal
RSC advances
Research Publisher
Royal Society of Chemistry
Research Vol
13
Research Website
https://doi.org/10.1039/d3ra04242a
Research Year
2023
Research_Pages
26804-26811
Research Abstract

 

Malaria as an infectious disease is one of the world's most dangerous parasitic diseases. There is an urgent need for the development of new antimalarial drugs. Natural products are a very rich source of new bioactive compounds. Our research aims to shed light on the recent studies which demonstrated the antimalarial potential of phenylpropanoids as a major natural-products class. This study involves an in silico analysis of naturally-occurring phenylpropanoids and phenylethanoids which showed 25 compounds with moderate to strong binding affinity to various amino acid residues lining the active site; P. falciparum kinase (PfPK5), P. falciparum cytochrome bc1 complex (cyt bc1), and P. falciparum lysyl-tRNA synthetase (PfKRS1); of Plasmodium falciparum parasite, a unicellular protozoan which causes the most severe and life-threatening malaria. Furthermore, the study was augmented by the assessment of antiplasmodial activity of glandularin, a naturally occurring dibenzylbutyrolactolic lignan, against chloroquine-sensitive 3D7 strain of P. falciparum using SYBR green I-based fluorescence assay, which showed high antimalarial activity with IC50 value of 11.2 μM after 24 hours of incubation. Our results highlight phenylpropanoids and glandularin in particular as a promising chemical lead for development of antimalarial drugs.