scholarly journals Sustained Ex Vivo Susceptibility of Plasmodium falciparum to Artemisinin Derivatives but Increasing Tolerance to Artemisinin Combination Therapy Partner Quinolines in The Gambia

2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfred Amambua-Ngwa ◽  
Joseph Okebe ◽  
Haddijatou Mbye ◽  
Sukai Ceesay ◽  
Fatima El-Fatouri ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Antimalarial interventions have yielded a significant decline in malaria prevalence in The Gambia, where artemether-lumefantrine (AL) has been used as a first-line antimalarial for a decade. Clinical Plasmodium falciparum isolates collected from 2012 to 2015 were analyzed ex vivo for antimalarial susceptibility and genotyped for drug resistance markers (pfcrt K76T, pfmdr1 codons 86, 184, and 1246, and pfk13) and microsatellite variation. Additionally, allele frequencies of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from other drug resistance-associated genes were compared from genomic sequence data sets from 2008 (n = 79) and 2014 (n = 168). No artemisinin resistance-associated pfk13 mutation was found, and only 4% of the isolates tested in 2015 showed significant growth after exposure to dihydroartemisinin. Conversely, the 50% inhibitory concentrations (IC50s) of amodiaquine and lumefantrine increased within this period. pfcrt 76T and pfmdr1 184F mutants remained at a prevalence above 80%. pfcrt 76T was positively associated with higher IC50s to chloroquine. pfmdr1 NYD increased in frequency between 2012 and 2015 due to lumefantrine selection. The TNYD (pfcrt 76T and pfmdr1 NYD wild-type haplotype) also increased in frequency following AL implementation in 2008. These results suggest selection for pfcrt and pfmdr1 genotypes that enable tolerance to lumefantrine. Increased tolerance to lumefantrine calls for sustained chemotherapeutic monitoring in The Gambia to minimize complete artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) failure in the future.

2015 ◽  
Vol 59 (8) ◽  
pp. 4631-4643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suwanna Chaorattanakawee ◽  
David L. Saunders ◽  
Darapiseth Sea ◽  
Nitima Chanarat ◽  
Kritsanai Yingyuen ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTCambodia's first-line artemisinin combination therapy, dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DHA-PPQ), is no longer sufficiently curative against multidrug-resistantPlasmodium falciparummalaria at some Thai-Cambodian border regions. We report recent (2008 to 2013) drug resistance trends in 753 isolates from northern, western, and southern Cambodia by surveying forex vivodrug susceptibility and molecular drug resistance markers to guide the selection of an effective alternative to DHA-PPQ. Over the last 3 study years, PPQ susceptibility declined dramatically (geomean 50% inhibitory concentration [IC50] increased from 12.8 to 29.6 nM), while mefloquine (MQ) sensitivity doubled (67.1 to 26 nM) in northern Cambodia. These changes in drug susceptibility were significantly associated with a decreased prevalence ofP. falciparummultidrug resistance 1 gene (Pfmdr1) multiple copy isolates and coincided with the timing of replacing artesunate-mefloquine (AS-MQ) with DHA-PPQ as the first-line therapy. Widespread chloroquine resistance was suggested by all isolates being of theP. falciparumchloroquine resistance transporter gene CVIET haplotype. Nearly all isolates collected from the most recent years hadP. falciparumkelch13mutations, indicative of artemisinin resistance.Ex vivobioassay measurements of antimalarial activity in plasma indicated 20% of patients recently took antimalarials, and their plasma had activity (median of 49.8 nM DHA equivalents) suggestive of substantialin vivodrug pressure. Overall, our findings suggest DHA-PPQ failures are associated with emerging PPQ resistance in a background of artemisinin resistance. The observed connection between drug policy changes and significant reduction in PPQ susceptibility with mitigation of MQ resistance supports reintroduction of AS-MQ, in conjunction with monitoring of theP. falciparummdr1copy number, as a stop-gap measure in areas of DHA-PPQ failure.


2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (7) ◽  
pp. 1144-1152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabyasachi Das ◽  
Subhankar Manna ◽  
Bhaskar Saha ◽  
Amiya Kumar Hati ◽  
Somenath Roy

Abstract Background Artesunate-sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (ASSP) is the frontline artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) in India. Random, irrational, subtherapeutic artemisinin doses and self-medication with ACT along with predominance of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine resistance parasite invoked a strong possibility of emerging artemisinin-resistant malaria parasites. Methods This study involved 226 patients with uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum infection who had successfully completed the 42 days follow-up after ASSP combination therapy from April 2014 to January 2016. We assessed the ASSP treatment efficacy by evaluating parasite clearance half-life, pfkelch13, and other (pfdhfr, pfdhps, pfmdr1, pfcrt) gene mutations and survival of parasites as detected by an ex vivo ring-stage survival assay (RSA). Findings Slow-clearing infections with longer parasite clearance half-lives (>5 hours) were observed in 12% isolates. Cure rate after ASSP treatment was declining to about 84.1%. ASSP failure was recorded in 15.9% (early treatment failure, 7.9%; late treatment failure, 7.9%) of isolates. In sum, 24 patients (10.6%) had parasite clearance half-lives greater than 5 hours with pfkelch13 polymorphism after 441 codon; in 15 of those patients (6.6%), parasites had not cleared by 72 hours after initiation of therapy. Median ex vivo ring-stage survival rate of these isolates was very high (12.2%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 10.9–13.8) from that of cured patients (0.9%; 95% CI, 0.09–1.07). Of these 15 patients, 13 patients had pfkelch13 G625R polymorphism, whereas 2 patients contained R539T polymorphism. As per the World Health Organization guideline, these 15 isolates were true artemisinin-resistant isolates. Interpretation Identification of artemisinin-resistant isolates in India together with new mutations and increasing combination therapy failures blow alarms for urgent malaria control.


2016 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mónica Guerra ◽  
Rita Neres ◽  
Patrícia Salgueiro ◽  
Cristina Mendes ◽  
Nicolas Ndong-Mabale ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Efforts to control malaria may affect malaria parasite genetic variability and drug resistance, the latter of which is associated with genetic events that promote mechanisms to escape drug action. The worldwide spread of drug resistance has been a major obstacle to controlling Plasmodium falciparum malaria, and thus the study of the origin and spread of associated mutations may provide some insights into the prevention of its emergence. This study reports an analysis of P. falciparum genetic diversity, focusing on antimalarial resistance-associated molecular markers in two socioeconomically different villages in mainland Equatorial Guinea. The present study took place 8 years after a previous one, allowing the analysis of results before and after the introduction of an artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT), i.e., artesunate plus amodiaquine. Genetic diversity was assessed by analysis of the Pfmsp2 gene and neutral microsatellite loci. Pfdhps and Pfdhfr alleles associated with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) resistance and flanking microsatellite loci were investigated, and the prevalences of drug resistance-associated point mutations of the Pfcrt, Pfmdr1, Pfdhfr, and Pfdhps genes were estimated. Further, to monitor the use of ACT, we provide the baseline prevalences of K13 propeller mutations and Pfmdr1 copy numbers. After 8 years, noticeable differences occurred in the distribution of genotypes conferring resistance to chloroquine and SP, and the spread of mutated genotypes differed according to the setting. Regarding artemisinin resistance, although mutations reported as being linked to artemisinin resistance were not present at the time, several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were observed in the K13 gene, suggesting that closer monitoring should be maintained to prevent the possible spread of artemisinin resistance in Africa.


2014 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 1770-1775 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynette Isabella Ochola-Oyier ◽  
John Okombo ◽  
Leah Mwai ◽  
Steven M. Kiara ◽  
Lewa Pole ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe mechanisms of drug resistance development in thePlasmodium falciparumparasite to lumefantrine (LUM), commonly used in combination with artemisinin, are still unclear. We assessed the polymorphisms ofPfmspdbl2for associations with LUM activity in a Kenyan population. MSPDBL2 codon 591S was associated with reduced susceptibility to LUM (P= 0.04). The high frequency ofPfmspdbl2codon 591S in Kenya may be driven by the widespread use of lumefantrine in artemisinin combination therapy (Coartem).


Pharmaceutics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1273
Author(s):  
Océane Delandre ◽  
Mathieu Gendrot ◽  
Isabelle Fonta ◽  
Joel Mosnier ◽  
Nicolas Benoit ◽  
...  

Background: Artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) was recommended to treat uncomplicated falciparum malaria. Unlike the situation in Asia where resistance to ACT has been reported, artemisinin resistance has not yet emerged in Africa. However, some rare failures with ACT or patients continuing to be parasitaemic on day 3 after ACT treatment have been reported in Africa or in travellers returning from Africa. Three mutations (G50E, R100K, and E107V) in the pfcoronin gene could be responsible for artemisinin resistance in Africa. Methods: The aims of this study were first to determine the prevalence of mutations in the pfcoronin gene in African P. falciparum isolates by Sanger sequencing, by targeting the 874 samples collected from patients hospitalised in France after returning from endemic areas in Africa between 2018 and 2019, and secondly to evaluate their association with in vitro reduced susceptibility to standard quinoline antimalarial drugs, including chloroquine, quinine, mefloquine, desethylamodiaquine, lumefantrine, piperaquine, and pyronaridine. Results: The three mutations in the pfcoronin gene (50E, 100K, and 107V) were not detected in the 874 P. falciparum isolates. Current data show that another polymorphism (P76S) is present in many countries of West Africa (mean prevalence of 20.7%) and Central Africa (11.9%) and, rarely, in East Africa (4.2%). This mutation does not appear to be predictive of in vitro reduced susceptibility to quinolines, including artemisinin derivative partners in ACT such as amodiaquine, lumefantrine, piperaquine, pyronaridine, and mefloquine. Another mutation (V62M) was identified at low prevalence (overall prevalence of 1%). Conclusions: The 76S mutation is present in many African countries with a prevalence above 10%. It is reassuring that this mutation does not confer in vitro resistance to ACT partners.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariusz Wojnarski ◽  
Chanthap Lon ◽  
Pattaraporn Vanachayangkul ◽  
Panita Gosi ◽  
Somethy Sok ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Recent artemisinin-combination therapy failures in Cambodia prompted a search for alternatives. Atovaquone-proguanil (AP), a safe, effective treatment for multidrug-resistant Plasmodium falciparum (P.f.), previously demonstrated additive effects in combination with artesunate (AS). Methods Patients with P.f. or mixed-species infection (n = 205) in Anlong Veng (AV; n = 157) and Kratie (KT; n = 48), Cambodia, were randomized open-label 1:1 to a fixed-dose 3-day AP regimen +/-3 days of co-administered artesunate (ASAP). Single low-dose primaquine (PQ, 15 mg) was given on day 1 to prevent gametocyte-mediated transmission. Results Polymerase chain reaction–adjusted adequate clinical and parasitological response at 42 days was 90% for AP (95% confidence interval [CI], 82%–95%) and 92% for ASAP (95% CI, 83%–96%; P = .73). The median parasite clearance time was 72 hours for ASAP in AV vs 56 hours in KT (P < .001) and was no different than AP alone. At 1 week postprimaquine, 7% of the ASAP group carried microscopic gametocytes vs 29% for AP alone (P = .0001). Nearly all P.f. isolates had C580Y K13 propeller artemisinin resistance mutations (AV 99%; KT 88%). Only 1 of 14 treatment failures carried the cytochrome bc1 (Pfcytb) atovaquone resistance mutation, which was not present at baseline. P.f. isolates remained atovaquone sensitive in vitro but cycloguanil resistant, with a triple P.f. dihydrofolate reductase mutation. Conclusions Atovaquone-proguanil remained marginally effective in Cambodia (≥90%) with minimal Pfcytb mutations observed. Treatment failures in the presence of ex vivo atovaquone sensitivity and adequate plasma levels may be attributable to cycloguanil and/or artemisinin resistance. Artesunate co-administration provided little additional blood-stage efficacy but reduced post-treatment gametocyte carriage in combination with AP beyond single low-dose primaquine.


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