Nature Communications (Jul 2019)

Antimalarial activity of primaquine operates via a two-step biochemical relay

  • Grazia Camarda,
  • Piyaporn Jirawatcharadech,
  • Richard S. Priestley,
  • Ahmed Saif,
  • Sandra March,
  • Michael H. L. Wong,
  • Suet Leung,
  • Alex B. Miller,
  • David A. Baker,
  • Pietro Alano,
  • Mark J. I. Paine,
  • Sangeeta N. Bhatia,
  • Paul M. O’Neill,
  • Stephen A. Ward,
  • Giancarlo A. Biagini

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-11239-0
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 1
pp. 1 – 9

Abstract

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Primaquine (PQ) is a widely used anti-malaria drug, but its mechanism of action is unclear. Here, Camarda et al. show that PQ’s activity against liver and sexual Plasmodium stages depends on generation of hydroxylated-PQ metabolites (OH-PQm), which, undergoing further reactions, results in production of H2O2.