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Penna-Coutinho J, da Silva Araújo M, Campos Aguiar AC, Sá PM, Rios CT, Medeiros JF, Pereira DB, Boechat N, Krettli AU. MEFAS, a hybrid of artesunate-mefloquine active against asexual stages of Plasmodium vivax in field isolates, inhibits malaria transmission. Int J Parasitol Drugs Drug Resist 2021; 17:150-155. [PMID: 34637981 PMCID: PMC8503849 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpddr.2021.09.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2020] [Revised: 09/09/2021] [Accepted: 09/15/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022]
Abstract
Human malaria continues to be a public health problem and an important cause of morbidity and mortality in the world. Malaria control is achieved through both individual protection against mosquito bites and drug treatment, which is hampered by the spread of Plasmodium falciparum resistance to most antimalarials, including artemisinin derivatives. One of the key pharmacological strategies for controlling malaria is to block transmission of the parasites to their mosquito vectors. Following this rational, MEFAS, a synthetic hybrid salt derived from artesunate (AS) and mefloquine has been previously reported for its activity against asexual P. falciparum parasites in vitro, in addition to a pronounced reduction in the viability of mature gametocytes. Herein, MEFAS was tested against asexual forms of Plasmodium vivax and for its ability to block malaria transmission in Anopheles darlingi mosquitoes in a membrane feeding assay using P. vivax field isolates. MEFAS demonstrated high potency, with a IC50 of 6.5 nM against asexual forms of P. vivax. At 50 μM, MEFAS completely blocked oocyst formation in mosquitoes, regardless of the oocyst number in the control group. At lower doses, MEFAS reduced oocyst prevalence by greater than 20%. At equivalent doses, AS irregularly reduced oocyst formation and caused only slight inhibition of mosquito infections. These results highlight the potential of MEFAS as a novel transmission-blocking molecule, as well as its high blood schizonticidal activity against P. vivax and P. falciparum field isolates, representing a starting point for further development of a new drug with dual antimalarial activity.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Paula Miranda Sá
- Laboratório de Síntese de Fármacos LASFAR, Farmanguinhos, FIOCRUZ-RJ, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Carlos Tong Rios
- Laboratorios de Investigacion y Desarrollo, Facultad de Ciencias y Filosofia, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru
| | | | | | - Nubia Boechat
- Laboratório de Síntese de Fármacos LASFAR, Farmanguinhos, FIOCRUZ-RJ, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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Correia PMM, Menoita J, Silva ALM, Romanyshyn N, Veloso JFCA, Sá PM, Matela N, Almeida P. An EDUGATE simulation toolkit based on the educational easyPET. Biomed Phys Eng Express 2019. [DOI: 10.1088/2057-1976/aae4d4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
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