Identification of artemisinin resistance in Thai-Myanmar border region

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26305009
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 海外学術
• Research Field: Parasitology (including sanitary zoology)
• Research Institution: Tokyo Medical and Dental University (2017); Mie University (2014-2016)
• Principal Investigator: IWANAGA Shiroh 東京医科歯科大学, 大学院医歯学総合研究科, 教授 (20314510)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: マラリア / アルテミシニン / 薬剤耐性

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we collected the malaria patient bloods in Thai-Myanmar and established 255 of the cultivable parasite strain. Next, we established the detection method for artemisinin resistance. In this method, we cultured the parasites in the presence of 5 nM of artemisinin for 96 hours and evaluated their resistance in terms of their survivals. By using this method, we identified 7 artemisinin resistant parasites from those obtained cultivable parasites. In contrast to the Cambodian resistant parasite, one of them did not show the resistance at the ring stage. This result indicated that Thai-Myanmar resistant parasite was different from the Cambodian resistant parasites. Furthermore, we identified the gene responsible for redox system as drug resistance gene. This result suggested that the change of the redox condition in the cell may involved in the artemisinin resistance.

Free Research Field

寄生虫学