Mechanisms of hematin crystallization and inhibition by the antimalarial drug chloroquine

Abstract

Hematin crystallization is the primary mechanism of heme detoxification in malaria parasites and the target of the quinoline class of antimalarials. Despite numerous studies of malaria pathophysiology, fundamental questions regarding hematin growth and inhibition remain. Among them are the identity of the crystallization medium in vivo, aqueous or organic; the mechanism of crystallization, classical or nonclassical; and whether quinoline antimalarials inhibit crystallization by sequestering hematin in the solution, or by blocking surface sites crucial for growth. Here we use time-resolved in situ atomic force microscopy (AFM) and show that the lipid subphase in the parasite may be a preferred growth medium. We provide, to our knowledge, the first evidence of the molecular mechanisms of hematin crystallization and inhibition by chloroquine, a common quinoline antimalarial drug. AFM observations demonstrate that crystallization strictly follows a classical mechanism wherein new crystal layers are generated by 2D nucleation and grow by the attachment of solute molecules. We identify four classes of surface sites available for binding of potential drugs and propose respective mechanisms of drug action. Further studies reveal that chloroquine inhibits hematin crystallization by binding to molecularly flat {100} surfaces. A 2-μM concentration of chloroquine fully arrests layer generation and step advancement, which is ∼104× less than hematin’s physiological concentration. Our results suggest that adsorption at specific growth sites may be a general mode of hemozoin growth inhibition for the quinoline antimalarials. Because the atomic structures of the identified sites are known, this insight could advance the future design and/or optimization of new antimalarials.