Altered membrane permeability: a new approach to malaria chemotherapy

During its development: in the host erythrocyte, the malarial parasite causes profound alterations in the permeability of the host cell membrane. Nucleoside transport pathways, which are induced by the parasite in the host erythrocyte membrane, have properties significantly different from those of the host cell. Here, Annette Gero and Joanne Upston review the current knowledge o f the parasite-induced transporters and show that they can be used to selectively direct cytotoxic compounds into the parasite-infected cell, thereby indicating their chemotherapeutic potential.