PhD Oral Defense: Characterization of Plasmodium falciparum Resistance to Novel Drugs: A Study of PfCRT, PfMDR1 and PfABCG Mediated Drug Resistance
PhD Oral Defense of Sonia Inès Edayé, Institute of Parasitology
Plasmodium falciparum is the deadly protozoan parasite responsible for malaria. Malaria is one of the most important infectious diseases that has been raging for millennia and affecting almost half of the world’s population. The treatment regimen that was based on quinoline drugs such as chloroquine (CQ), was efficient for decades. Nowadays, the use of this class of drugs is doomed to failure due to the emergence of quinoline-resistant parasites. Today, artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) are the first-line drugs for uncomplicated falciparum malaria treatment. ACTs improve the cure rate of malaria and thus are seen as efficient treatment against uncomplicated forms of the disease. Despite their efficiency, these drugs are currently facing the development of resistance. PfCRT and PfMDR1, which are membrane transporters, have been shown to be involved in malaria parasites drug resistance. To tackle the inefficiency of existing drugs in regard to the development of resistance, alternative therapies must be discovered. In this thesis, antimalarial activity of novel potential drugs against P. falciparum is assessed and the interaction of these drugs with PfCRT and PfMDR1 is determined. Furthermore, because many ABC transporter genes play a key role in drug resistance, the characterization of an ABC transporter member of the ABCG family in Plasmodium is addressed and its role in drug resistance investigated.