Changing Antimalarial Drug Resistance Patterns Identified by Surveillance at Three Sites in Uganda.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Tumwebaze P
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5853976 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DP) has demonstrated excellent efficacy for the treatment and prevention of malaria in Uganda. However, resistance to both components of this regimen has emerged in Southeast Asia. The efficacy of artemether-lumefantrine, the first-line regimen to treat malaria in Uganda, has also been excellent, but continued pressure may select for parasites with decreased sensitivity to lumefantrine. To gain insight into current drug sensitivity patterns, ex vivo sensitivities were assessed and genotypes previously associated with altered drug sensitivity were characterized for 58 isolates collected in Tororo, Uganda, from subjects presenting in 2016 with malaria from the community or as part of a clinical trial comparing DP chemoprevention regimens. Compared to community isolates, those from trial subjects had lower sensitivities to the aminoquinolines chloroquine, monodesethyl amodiaquine, and piperaquine and greater sensitivities to lumefantrine and mefloquine, an observation consistent with DP selection pressure. Compared to results for isolates from 2010 to 2013, the sensitivities of 2016 community isolates to chloroquine, amodiaquine, and piperaquine improved (geometric mean 50% inhibitory concentrations [IC50] = 248, 76.9, and 19.1 nM in 2010 to 2013 and 33.4, 14.9, and 7.5 nM in 2016, respectively [P < 0.001 for all comparisons]), the sensitivity to lumefantrine decreased (IC50 = 3.0 nM in 2010 to 2013 and 5.4 nM in 2016 [P < 0.001]), and the sensitivity to dihydroartemisinin was unchanged (IC50 = 1.4 nM). These changes were accompanied by decreased prevalence of transporter mutations associated with aminoquinoline resistance and low prevalence of polymorphisms recently associated with resistance to artemisinins or piperaquine. Antimalarial drug sensitivities are changing in Uganda, but novel genotypes associated with DP treatment failure in Asia are not prevalent.
| S-EPMC5700361 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The potential spread of antimalarial drug resistance to Africa, in particular for artemisinins and key partner drugs, is a major concern. We surveyed Plasmodium falciparum genetic markers associated with drug sensitivity on 3 occasions at ∼6-month intervals in 2016 and 2017 at 10 sites representing a range of epidemiological settings in Uganda. For putative drug transporters, we found continued evolution toward wild-type sequences associated with increased sensitivity to chloroquine. For pfcrt K76T, by 2017 the prevalence of the wild type was >60% at all sites and >90% at 6 sites. For the pfmdr1 N86Y and D1246Y alleles, wild type prevalence ranged from 80 to 100%. We found low prevalence of K13 propeller domain mutations, which are associated with artemisinin resistance in Asia, but one mutation previously identified in northern Uganda, 675V, was seen in 2.0% of samples, including 5.5% of those from the 3 northernmost sites. Amplification of the pfmdr1 and plasmepsin2 genes, associated elsewhere with decreased sensitivity to lumefantrine and piperaquine, respectively, was seen in <1% of samples. For the antifolate targets pfdhfr and pfdhps, 5 mutations previously associated with resistance were very common, and the pfdhfr 164L and pfdhps 581G mutations associated with higher-level resistance were seen at multiple sites, although prevalence did not clearly increase over time. Overall, changes were consistent with the selective pressure of the national treatment regimen, artemether-lumefantrine, with increased sensitivity to chloroquine, and with poor efficacy of antifolates. Strong evidence for resistance to artemisinins was not seen. Continued surveillance of markers that predict antimalarial drug sensitivity is warranted.
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Project description:Antimalarial drug resistance is a major constraint for malaria control and elimination efforts. Artemisinin-based combination therapy is now the mainstay for malaria treatment. However, delayed parasite clearance following treatment with artemisinin derivatives has now spread in the Greater Mekong Sub region and may emerge or spread to other malaria endemic regions. This spread is of great concern for malaria control programmes, as no alternatives to artemisinin-based combination therapies are expected to be available in the near future. There is a need to strengthen surveillance systems for early detection and response to the antimalarial drug resistance threat. Current surveillance is mainly done through therapeutic efficacy studies; however these studies are complex and both time- and resource-intensive. For multiple common antimalarials, parasite drug resistance has been correlated with specific genetic mutations, and the molecular markers associated with antimalarial drug resistance offer a simple and powerful tool to monitor the emergence and spread of resistant parasites. Different techniques to analyse molecular markers associated with antimalarial drug resistance are available, each with advantages and disadvantages. However, procedures are not adequately harmonized to facilitate comparisons between sites. Here we describe the target product profiles for tests to analyse molecular markers associated with antimalarial drug resistance, discuss how use of current techniques can be standardised, and identify the requirements for an ideal product that would allow malaria endemic countries to provide useful spatial and temporal information on the spread of resistance.
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Project description:Since the successful preparation of the microplates and the medium for field application, the resistance degree and its geographical distribution of chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum, the fluctuation of the resistance degree of P. falciparum to chloroquine, and the sensitivity of the parasite to commonly used antimalarial drugs were investigated between 1980 and 2003 by the in vitro microtest and the in vivo four-week test recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). The results indicated that chloroquine-resistant falciparum malaria was present in all eight provinces/autonomous regions endemic for falciparum malaria in China, and the resistance was high and widely distributed in the Hainan and Yunnan provinces. When the use of chloroquine was stopped or administered in a decreased quanity, the drug resistance gradually decreased. In Hainan and Yunnan, P. falciparum was still highly resistant to chloroquine, amodiaquine and piperaquine, and sensitive to pyronaridine and artemisinin derivatives, but the sensitivity was gradually reduced. Based on these results, principles and therapeutic regimens for antimalarial drug use in China were formulated, the use of the antimalarials which had already developed resistance was stopped or reduced, and recommendations to use artemisinin derivatives or compound pyronaridine to promote a rational use of antimalarials and strengthen malaria control were made. The results showed that malaria incidence had declined, and endemic areas of falciparum malaria have been gradually reducing since the mid-1980s.
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Project description:Drug resistance is a recurrent problem in the fight against malaria. Genetic and epidemiological surveillance of antimalarial resistant parasite alleles is crucial to guide drug therapies and clinical management. New antimalarial compounds are currently at various stages of clinical trials and regulatory evaluation. Using ∼2000 Plasmodium falciparum genome sequences, we investigated the genetic diversity of eleven gene-targets of promising antimalarial compounds and assessed their potential efficiency across malaria endemic regions. We determined if the loci are under selection prior to the introduction of new drugs and established a baseline of genetic variance, including potential resistant alleles, for future surveillance programmes.
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Project description:RationaleMultiple infections with different strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis may occur in settings where the infection pressure is high. The relevance of mixed infections for the patient, clinician, and control program remains unclear.ObjectivesThis study aimed to describe reinfection and mixed infection as underlying mechanisms of changing drug-susceptibility patterns in serial sputum cultures.MethodsSerial M. tuberculosis sputum cultures from patients diagnosed with multi-drug-resistant (MDR) tuberculosis were evaluated by phenotypic drug-susceptibility testing and mutation detection methods. Genotypic analysis was done by IS6110 DNA fingerprinting and a novel strain-specific polymerase chain reaction amplification method.Measurements and main resultsDNA fingerprinting analysis of serial sputum cultures from 48 patients with MDR tuberculosis attributed 10 cases to reinfection and 1 case to mixed infection. In contrast, strain-specific polymerase chain reaction amplification analysis in 9 of the 11 cases demonstrated mixed infection in 5 cases, reinfection in 3 cases, and laboratory contamination in 1 case. Analysis of clinical data suggests that first-line therapy can select for a resistant subpopulation, whereas poor adherence or second-line therapy resulted in the reemergence of the drug-susceptible subpopulations.ConclusionsWe have shown that, in some patients with MDR tuberculosis, mixed infection may be responsible for observations attributed to reinfection by DNA fingerprinting. We conclude that treatment and adherence determines which strain is dominant. We hypothesize that treatment with second-line drugs may lead to reemergence of the drug-susceptible strain in patients with mixed infection.
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Project description:We explored spatial variation in the prevalence of established molecular markers of antimalarial resistance across a geographically diverse, highland region of western Uganda. We identified Plasmodium falciparum CQ resistance transporter 76T mutations in all pools, but there was no evidence of spatial differences across village-based strata defined by either altitude or river valley. In contrast, we identified a significant inverse association between altitude and the prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum multidrug resistance 1 mutations with the largest proportion of Y184F mutations observed in the low-elevation, high-transmission villages. These results demonstrate the substantial heterogeneity in resistance markers observed across geographic settings, even at relatively small scales, but highlight the complex nature of these ecological relationships.
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