Data files supporting the manuscript: Nitisinone’s mosquitocidal properties hold promise for malaria control

Created on 29 Sep 2024 - 16:28 by Lee HainesThe project describes a potential method for reducing the spread of diseases carried by insects, specifically mosquitoes that transmit malaria. The method involves using drugs that make the blood of animals or humans toxic to insects that feed on blood. The key point is that a specific enzyme called 4- hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase, HPPD, which is important for blood-feeding insects like mosquitoes, can be targeted. A drug called nitisinone, which is already approved by the FDA to treat rare human diseases linked to tyrosine metabolism, can inhibit this enzyme.We further characterise nitisinone's activity - when mosquitoes were fed human blood containing nitisinone, it killed both young and old mosquitoes, and those resistant to other insecticides. In side by side comparisons to another similar drug named ivermectin, nitisinone had a better killing profile for mosquitoes. Additionally, people with a rare genetic condition called alkaptonuria, who therapeutically ingest a low daily dose of nitisinone (2 mg/day), have blood that kills mosquitoes. This suggests that using nitisinone to inhibit this enzyme could be a new way to help control malaria.