Malaria Drug Doubles As Anti-Asthmatic

Artesunate, currently used to treat malaria, could help asthmatics control their symptoms with fewer side effects.

AsianScientist (Aug. 8, 2014) – Asthmatic patients may soon have a more effective way to control the condition, thanks to a new pharmacological discovery by researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS). This research has been published in the journal Metabolomics.

The team, led by Associate Professor Fred Wong from the Department of Pharmacology at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, together with Dr. Eugene Ho Wanxing, a recent PhD graduate from the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health at NUS, discovered that artesunate, a common herbal-based anti-malarial drug, can be used to control asthma, with better treatment outcomes than other drugs currently available.

In their latest work, the team revealed that artesunate is able to suppress airway inflammation and produce an array of anti-inflammatory effects similar to those by dexamethasone, the most potent steroid currently available, and with less side effects.

Asthma is an incurable lung disease that inflames and narrows the airways, causing recurring periods of wheezing, chest tightness, coughing and shortness of breath. It is a chronic condition that affects people of all ages, but it most often starts during childhood.

To address the global unmet demand for better therapeutics to control allergic asthma, Dr. Ho explored the therapeutic values of artesunate, which is herbal-based, as an alternative drug candidate. His initial findings demonstrated that artesunate possessed promising anti-inflammatory potential.

For his postgraduate studies, Dr. Ho built upon his findings to better understand the therapeutic properties and molecular mechanisms of artesunate under the supervision of Prof. Fred Wong.

They studied the therapeutic effects of artesunate against oxidative stress and oxidative lung damage which are major inflammatory events that contribute to the severity of asthma attacks. They found that artesunate could better prevent oxidative lung damage, a major molecular inflammatory event in asthmatic lungs, than clinically-used corticosteroid, dexamethasone.

Their collective results revealed that artesunate can be used to better control asthma, with improved outcomes and lesser adverse effects than currently available drugs. As long term usage of steroids may induce many potential side effects in asthmatic patients, the significance of this study suggests that the patients may eventually be able to adopt artesunate as a safer and more effective alternative to control their asthma.

Moving forward, the team will further explore the therapeutic and pharmacological effects of artesunate for asthma, as well as for other medical conditions. They also intend to work with industry partners to test the effects of artesunate on asthmatic patients.

The article can be found at: Ho et al. (2014) Anti-malarial Drug Artesunate Restores Metabolic Changes in Experimental Allergic Asthma.

——-

Source: National University of Singapore.
Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff.

Asian Scientist Magazine is an award-winning science and technology magazine that highlights R&D news stories from Asia to a global audience. The magazine is published by Singapore-headquartered Wildtype Media Group.

Related Stories from Asian Scientist