Screening a protein kinase inhibitor library against Plasmodium falciparum.

Hallyburton I, Grimaldi R, Woodland A, Baragaña B, Luksch T, Spinks D, et al.

Malar J [Internet]. 2017;16(1):446.

Protein kinases have been shown to be key drug targets, especially in the area of oncology. It is of interest to explore the possibilities of protein kinases as a potential target class in Plasmodium spp., the causative agents of malaria. However, protein kinase biology in malaria is still being investigated. Therefore, rather than assaying against individual protein kinases, a library of 4731 compounds with protein kinase inhibitor-like scaffolds was screened against the causative parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. This approach is more holistic and considers the whole kinome, making it possible to identify compounds that inhibit more than one P. falciparum protein kinase, or indeed other malaria targets.