Nature Communications (Sep 2018)

Artemisinin kills malaria parasites by damaging proteins and inhibiting the proteasome

  • Jessica L. Bridgford,
  • Stanley C. Xie,
  • Simon A. Cobbold,
  • Charisse Flerida A. Pasaje,
  • Susann Herrmann,
  • Tuo Yang,
  • David L. Gillett,
  • Lawrence R. Dick,
  • Stuart A. Ralph,
  • Con Dogovski,
  • Natalie J. Spillman,
  • Leann Tilley

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06221-1
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 1
pp. 1 – 9

Abstract

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Artemisinin (ART) is a widely used antimalarial drug, but its mechanism of action is poorly understood. Here, Bridgford et al. show that ART kills parasites by a two-pronged mechanism, causing protein damage and compromising proteasome function, and that accumulation of proteasome substrates activates the ER stress response.