Fine-tuning the approach to malaria and toxoplasmosis research

A study carried out by teams from the Institut Pasteur, the Institut Cochin (Inserm, CNRS, Paris Descartes University), and the Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology at the University of Glasgow, may very well redefine current approaches to malaria and toxoplasmosis research in terms of treatment development. Their research which focuses on the role played by the protein AMA1 (present in both parasites) was published october 9, on the Nature Communications website. For many years AMA1 has been the focus of studies aiming to develop malaria treatments and vaccines. However, the authors of this study express their reservations about strategies that focus strictly on blocking AMA1 and show that malaria and toxoplasmosis parasites without AMA1 are still capable of developing normally.