Abstract
The emergence and spread of antimalarial resistance remain burgeoning issues. Any strategy to slow down or overcome these problems requires an understanding of the genetic changes underlying this resistance. Quinine, the first antimalarial, has been central in the treatment of severe malaria, and has been proposed as second line treatment for uncomplicated malaria in many African countries. Some reports have indicated the emergence of quinine resistance in South East Asia and in Africa, however doubts have been raised about this quinine resistance in Africa. New and interesting data are emerging on the mechanism of quinine reduced susceptibility. In this report, we have reviewed work on the in vivo efficacy and in vitro activity of quinine, and discussed recent data on genetic markers of resistance to this drug. Overall, quinine still remains efficacious in Africa, and pfnhe, the sodium hydrogen exchanger, may be one of the genetic markers underlying quinine in vitro resistance.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 77-82 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology |
| Volume | 177 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 2011 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We thank the director of the Kenya Medical Research Institute for permission to publish this manuscript. This study was supported by European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCPT), through the Award of the best African scientist of the year 2009 (to AN).
Keywords
- Drug resistance
- Malaria
- Microsatellite
- Pfcrt
- Pfmdr1
- Pfnhe
- Quinine
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Parasitology
- Molecular Biology
