Planta Med 2020; 86(09): 585-618
DOI: 10.1055/a-1148-9000
Biological and Pharmacological Activity
Reviews
Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Natural Phenolic Compounds and Derivatives as Potential Antimalarial Agents

Lucia Mamede
Laboratory of Pharmacognosy, Center of Interdisciplinary Research on Medicines (CIRM), University of Liège, Belgium
,
Allison Ledoux
Laboratory of Pharmacognosy, Center of Interdisciplinary Research on Medicines (CIRM), University of Liège, Belgium
,
Olivia Jansen
Laboratory of Pharmacognosy, Center of Interdisciplinary Research on Medicines (CIRM), University of Liège, Belgium
,
Michel Frédérich
Laboratory of Pharmacognosy, Center of Interdisciplinary Research on Medicines (CIRM), University of Liège, Belgium
› Institutsangaben

Gefördert durch: Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique - FNRS PDR T.0092.20
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Publikationsverlauf

received 16. Dezember 2019
revised 27. März 2020

accepted 29. März 2020

Publikationsdatum:
23. April 2020 (online)

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Abstract

Malaria is a parasitic disease endemic to tropical and subtropical regions responsible for hundreds of millions of clinical cases and hundreds of thousands of deaths yearly. Its agent, the Plasmodium sp., has a highly variable antigenicity, which accounts for the emergence and spread of resistance to all available treatments. In light of this rising problem, scientists have turned to naturally occurring compounds obtained from plants recurrently used in traditional medicine in endemic areas. Ethnopharmacological approaches seem to be helpful in selecting the most interesting plants for the search of new antiplasmodial and antimalarial molecules. However, this search for new antimalarials is complex and time-consuming and ultimately leads to a great number of interesting compounds with a lack of discussion of their characteristics. This review aims to examine the most promising antiplasmodial phenolic compounds (phenolic acids, flavonoids, xanthones, coumarins, lignans, among others) and derivatives isolated over the course of the last 28 y (1990 – 2018) and discuss their structure-activity relationships, mechanisms of action, toxicity, new perspectives they could add to the fight against malaria, and finally, the difficulties of transforming these potential compounds into new antimalarials.