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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, February 2005, p. 632-637, Vol. 49, No. 2
0066-4804/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AAC.49.2.632-637.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Provitamin B5 (Pantothenol) Inhibits Growth of the Intraerythrocytic Malaria Parasite

Kevin J. Saliba,* Isabelle Ferru, and Kiaran Kirk

School of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Science, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

Received 31 August 2004/ Returned for modification 22 September 2004/ Accepted 21 October 2004

Pantothenic acid, a precursor of the crucial enzyme cofactor coenzyme A, is one of a relatively few nutrients for which the intraerythrocytic parasite has an absolute and acute requirement from the external medium. In some organisms the provitamin pantothenol can serve as a source of pantothenic acid; however, this was not the case for the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Instead, pantothenol inhibited the in vitro growth of P. falciparum via a mechanism that involves competition with pantothenate and which can be attributed to inhibition of the parasite's pantothenate kinase. Oral administration of pantothenol to mice infected with the murine parasite Plasmodium vinckei vinckei resulted in a significant inhibition of parasite proliferation. This study highlights the potential of the coenzyme A biosynthesis pathway in general, and pantothenate kinase in particular, as an antimalarial drug target.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: School of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Science, The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia. Phone: 61 2 6125 0640. Fax: 61 2 6125 0313. E-mail: kevin.saliba{at}anu.edu.au.

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, February 2005, p. 632-637, Vol. 49, No. 2
0066-4804/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AAC.49.2.632-637.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Spry, C., Saliba, K. J. (2009). The Human Malaria Parasite Plasmodium falciparum Is Not Dependent on Host Coenzyme A Biosynthesis. J. Biol. Chem. 284: 24904-24913 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Lehane, A. M., Marchetti, R. V., Spry, C., van Schalkwyk, D. A., Teng, R., Kirk, K., Saliba, K. J. (2007). Feedback Inhibition of Pantothenate Kinase Regulates Pantothenol Uptake by the Malaria Parasite. J. Biol. Chem. 282: 25395-25405 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Spry, C., Chai, C. L. L., Kirk, K., Saliba, K. J. (2005). A Class of Pantothenic Acid Analogs Inhibits Plasmodium falciparum Pantothenate Kinase and Represses the Proliferation of Malaria Parasites. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 49: 4649-4657 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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