Auphen inhibits <i>Plasmodium</i> parasite development.

<p>(A) Chemical structure of auphen. (B) Parasite load of <i>P</i>. <i>berghei</i>-infected HuH7 cells measured at 48 hpi. Cells treated with auphen at time of infection (t = 0) exhibited an EC₅₀ = 0.77 (n = 3 independent experiments) and cells treated with auphen at t = 24 had an EC₅₀ = 0.78 μM (n = 1 independent experiment). (C) Parasite load of <i>P</i>. <i>falciparum</i> Dd2 infected erythrocytes treated with auphen at the time of infection, EC₅₀ = 0.81 ± 0.10 μM (mean ± SEM; n = 2 independent experiments). (D) Size of EEFs in HuH7 cells infected with <i>P</i>. <i>berghei</i> and treated with DMSO compared to HuH7 cells treated with 1.2 μM auphen. HuH7 cells treated with auphen developed EEFs 56 ± 0.08% smaller than DMSO treated cells (<i>p</i> < 0.0001, unpaired Student’s <i>t-</i>test). (E) Number of EEFs was not significantly altered upon treatment with 1.2 μM auphen (<i>p =</i> 0.198, unpaired Student’s <i>t-</i>test; n = 9). (F) Parasite load of HuH7 cells infected with <i>P</i>. <i>berghei</i> sporozoites pre-incubated with DMSO, or various concentrations of auphen for 30 minutes prior to infection. Auphen treatment of sporozoites did not significantly reduce parasite load when measured 48 hpi (<i>p</i> = 0.9257, One-way ANOVA, Dunnett’s multiple comparison test; n = 2–3 independent experiments) while cells treated with auphen at the time of infection had significant reduction in parasite load (<i>p</i> < 0.0001, One-way ANOVA, Dunnett’s multiple comparison test; n = 2–3 independent experiments). ****<i>p</i> < 0.0001.