title: Protein-drug interaction studies for development of drugs against Plasmodium falciparum.
abstract: The study of protein-drug interaction is of pivotal importance to understand the structural features essential for ligand affinity. The explosion of information about protein structures has paved the way to develop structure-based virtual screening approaches. Parasitic protein kinases have been pointed out as potential targets for antiparasitic development. The identification of protein kinases in the Plasmodium falciparum genome has opened the possibility to test new families of inhibitors as potential antimalarial drugs. In addition, other key enzymes which play roles in biosynthetic pathways, such as enoyl reductase and chorismate synthase, can be valuable targets for drug development. This review is focused on these protein targets that may help to materialize new generations of antimalarial drugs.
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Biociências, Laboratório de Bioquímica Estrutural, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. walter@azevedolab.net
authors.forename: Walter Filgueira
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: de Azevedo
authors.forename: Rafael Andrade
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Caceres
authors.forename: Ivani
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pauli
authors.forename: Luís Fernando S M
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Timmers
authors.forename: Guy Barros
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Barcellos
authors.forename: Kelen Beiestorf
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Rocha
authors.forename: Milena Botelho Pereira
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Soares
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000962:Antimalarials / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D015195:Drug Design; D018503:Genome, Protozoan; D006801:Humans; D008024:Ligands; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000469:parasitology; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000187:drug effects*; D011485:Protein Binding; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000962:Antimalarials; D008024:Ligands; D015800:Protozoan Proteins