Valeria Vanegas Segura
Los Andes University
Colombia
Title: Insights from the in vitro evaluation of antimicrobial peptides against the erythrocytic stage of Plasmodium falciparum
Biography
Biography: Valeria Vanegas Segura
Abstract
The lack of an effective treatment and preventive measures against Malaria, represent a great persisting risk for the populations in endemic areas. Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by protozoan parasites that belong to genus the Plasmodium. More than 100 species of Plasmodium can infect different animal species, but P.falciparum has been cataloged as the most dangerous Malaria, due to the number of cases and severe symptomatology that produces in humans.
Particularly in Colombia, Malaria represents a serious public health problem. Despite the current progress in the search for new mechanisms to treat Malaria, it remains an ongoing globally challenge, mainly due to the increasing cases of resistance to current antimalarial drugs.
In this context, we propose Antimicrobial Peptides (AMPs) isolated from different amphibian species, who have previously shown activity against different pathogens, as a possible alternative for the treatment of Malaria. In silico results and the hemolytic activity of the AMPs were analyzed. Results clearly demonstrate that these peptides could have an activity against Plasmodium. Overall, the data indicate the potential advantages of this strategy for the development of selective peptides as research tools and eventually as antimalarial agents.