A proteomic glimpse into the effect of antimalarial drugs on Plasmodium falciparum proteome towards highlighting possible therapeutic targets.

There is no effective vaccine against malaria; therefore, chemotherapy is to date only choice to fight against this infectious disease. However, there are growing evidences of drug-resistance mechanisms in malaria treatments. Therefore, the identification of new drug targets is an urgent need for the clinic management of the disease. Proteomic approaches offer the chance of determining the effects of antimalarial drugs on the proteome of Plasmodium parasites. Accordingly, we here review the effects of antimalarial drugs on Plasmodium falciparum proteome pointing out the relevance of several proteins as possible drug targets in malaria treatment. In addition, some of the P. falciparum stage-specific altered proteins and parasite-host interactions might play important roles in pathogenicity, survival, invasion, and metabolic pathways and thus serve as potential source of drug targets. In this review, we have identified several proteins including thioredoxin reductase, helicases, peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase, endoplasmic reticulum-resident calcium-binding protein, choline/ethanolamine phosphotransferase, purine nucleoside phosphorylase, apical membrane antigen 1, glutamate dehydrogenase, hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyl transferase, heat shock protein70x, knob-associated histidine-rich protein, and erythrocyte membrane protein 1 as promising antimalarial drugs targets. Overall, proteomic approaches are able to partially facilitate finding the possible drug targets. However, the integration of other 'omics' and specific pharmaceutical techniques with proteomics may increase the therapeutic properties of the critical proteins identified in P. falciparum proteome.