New Potential Cures against Tropical Diseases Found in Antarctica
31.12.2009 - Flora & Fauna
Chemist Bill Baker and disease expert Dennis Kyle, both from the University of South Florida (USF), have found an interesting compound under a retreating glacier in Antarctica which could hold the cure for tropical diseases.
Working in the area around the US Antarctic Program’s Palmer Station, the researchers extracted about 70,000 organisms, which include a bright red sea sponge that might hold a cure against two tropical diseases caused by parasites and spread by insect bites: malaria and leishmaniasis.
The team’s findings on the sponge compound’s effects on leishmaniasis were recently published in the Journal of Natural Products. The research focuses on the compounds available in the vast marine environment available to fight against disease, which once identified, can then be recreated in the laboratory.
The discovery of a new compound from the Antarctic comes at a crucial time, since the parasite that causes malaria is becoming resistant to artemisinin, the most effective drug currently used to fight the disease. If resistance to the drug where to spread further, it might be catastrophic.
The natural world has long been the first place researchers have looked for cures to diseases; however with possibilities close to home exhausted, looking in other parts of the world where biodiversity is rich is the next logical step.
What’s more, looking for potential cures in compounds from parts of the world that have had no contact with tropical parasites means the cures could work more effectively and for longer period of time as the parasites would not have had the time to develop resistance to these compounds.
While this discovery has the potential to lead to new medicines, drug companies typically take about a decade to develop them after the initial effective compounds have been discovered.
