Faculty of Pharmacy, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
Student Research Committee, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
Phytother Res. 2020 Jul;34(7):1556-1569. doi: 10.1002/ptr.6628. Epub 2020 Feb 5.
Malaria is one of the life-threatening parasitic diseases that is endemic in tropical areas. The increased prevalence of malaria due to drug resistance leads to a high incidence of mortality. Drug discovery based on natural products and secondary metabolites is considered as alternative approaches for antimalarial therapy. Herbal medicines have advantages over modern medicines, including fewer side effects, cost-effectiveness, and affordability encouraging the herbal-based drug discovery. Several naturally occurring, semisynthetic, and synthetic antimalarial medications are on the market. For example, chloroquine is a synthetic medication for antimalarial therapy derived from quinine. Moreover, artemisinin, and its derivative, artesunate with sesquiterpene lactone backbone, is an antimalarial agent originated from Artemisia annua L. A. annua traditionally has been used to detoxify blood and eliminate fever in China. Although the artemisinin-based combination therapy against malaria has shown exceptional responses, the limited medicinal options demand novel therapeutics. Furthermore, drug resistance is the cause in most cases, and new medications are proposed to overcome the resistance. In addition to conventional therapeutics, this review covers some important genera in this area, including Artemisia, Cinchona, Cryptolepis, and Tabebuia, whose antimalarial activities are finely verified.
疟疾是一种致命的寄生虫病，流行于热带地区。由于耐药性的增加，疟疾的发病率很高，导致死亡率很高。基于天然产物和次生代谢物的药物发现被认为是抗疟治疗的替代方法。草药具有比现代药物更多的优势，包括副作用少、成本效益高、价格实惠，这鼓励了基于草药的药物发现。目前市场上有几种天然的、半合成的和合成的抗疟药物。例如，氯喹是一种从奎宁衍生而来的用于抗疟治疗的合成药物。此外，青蒿素及其衍生物青蒿琥酯具有倍半萜内酯骨架，是一种源自黄花蒿的抗疟药物。黄花蒿在中国传统上被用于清热解毒。虽然青蒿素为基础的联合疗法对疟疾有显著的疗效，但有限的药物选择需要新的治疗方法。此外，耐药性是大多数情况下的原因，需要提出新的药物来克服耐药性。除了传统的治疗方法，本综述还涵盖了该领域的一些重要属，包括青蒿、金鸡纳、穿心莲和Tabebuia，它们的抗疟活性已得到精细验证。
