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Review Article

Recent advances in novel heterocyclic scaffolds for the treatment of drug-resistant malaria

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Pages 173-186 | Received 22 Nov 2014, Accepted 19 Jan 2015, Published online: 16 Mar 2015
 

Abstract

Malaria is a major public health problem all over the world, particularly in tropical and subtropical countries due to the development of resistance and most deadly infection is caused by Plasmodium falciparum. There is a direct need for the discovery of new drugs with unique structures and mechanism of action to treat sensitive and drug-resistant strains of various plasmodia for radical cure of this disease. Traditional compounds such as quinine and related derivatives represent a major source for the development of new drugs. This review presents recent modifications of 4-aminoquinoline and 8-aminoquinolone rings as leads to novel active molecules which are under clinical trials. The review also encompasses the other heterocyclic compounds emerged as potential antimalarial agents with promising results such as acridinediones and acridinone analogues, pyridines and quinolones as antimalarials. Miscellaneous heterocyclics such as tetroxane derivatives, indole derivatives, imidazolopiperazine derivatives, biscationic choline-based compounds and polymer-linked combined antimalarial drugs are also discussed. At last brief introduction to heterocyclics in natural products is also reviewed. Most of them have been under clinical trials and found to be promising in the treatment of drug-resistant strains of Plasmodium and others can be explored for the same purpose.

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the Life Science Research Board (LSRB) of Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), New Delhi, project no. DL/81/48222/LSRB-232/SH & DD/2011. We are also thankful to Sh. Parveen Garg, Chairman, I.S.F. College of Pharmacy, Moga for his continuous support. We also acknowledge Department of Research, Innovation and Consultancy, Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar, India.

Declaration of interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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