Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 May 6;14(5):453.
doi: 10.3390/pathogens14050453.

Ex Vivo Drug Susceptibility of Plasmodium malariae Isolates to Antimalarial Drugs in Gabon

Yudi T Pinilla  1   2 , Anton Hoffmann  1   2 , Maxim Viehweg  1   2 , Nathanaël Saison  1   2 , Stravensky Terence Boussougou Sambe  1   2 , Ange Gatien Doumba Ndalembouly  1 , Barclaye Ngossanga  1 , Florence Awamu  1   2 , Ayola Akim Adegnika  1   2   3 , Steffen Borrmann  1   2   3
Affiliations

Ex Vivo Drug Susceptibility of Plasmodium malariae Isolates to Antimalarial Drugs in Gabon

Yudi T Pinilla et al. Pathogens. .

Abstract

Plasmodium malariae is a neglected human malaria parasite despite its global distribution and propensity for persistent, sub-microscopic infections, which are associated with a mild but significant disease burden. Artemisinin-based therapies appear to be efficacious, but the susceptibility profiles of field isolates are largely unknown. We performed ex vivo assays with isolates collected from asymptomatic volunteers in Gabon. The mean concentrations required to inhibit 50% of growth (IC50) with chloroquine (n = 21), artesunate (n = 20), atovaquone (n = 21), and lumefantrine (n = 14) were 7.2 nM, 2.7 nM, 3.1 nM, and 7.4 nM, respectively. Our study provides novel data on the ex vivo susceptibility of P. malariae to several key antimalarials, including the first dataset for atovaquone.

Keywords: Gabon; P. malariae; drug susceptibility assay; malaria.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Distribution of IC50 values of P. malariae isolates for each drug (CQ, AS, ATQ, and LUM). CQ, chloroquine; AS, artesunate; ATQ, atovaquone; LUM, lumefantrine. Each data point for a particular drug shows mean IC50 values. Error bars indicate medians and 95% confidence intervals.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Oriero E.C., Amenga-Etego L., Ishengoma D.S., Amambua-Ngwa A. Plasmodium malariae, current knowledge and future research opportunities on a neglected malaria parasite species. Crit. Rev. Microbiol. 2021;47:44–56. doi: 10.1080/1040841X.2020.1838440. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Sutherland C.J. Persistent Parasitism: The Adaptive Biology of Malariae and Ovale Malaria. Trends Parasitol. 2016;32:808–819. doi: 10.1016/j.pt.2016.07.001. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Collins W.E., Jeffery G.M. Plasmodium malariae: Parasite and disease. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 2007;20:579–592. doi: 10.1128/CMR.00027-07. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Langford S., Douglas N.M., Lampah D.A., Simpson J.A., Kenangalem E., Sugiarto P., Anstey N.M., Poespoprodjo J.R., Price R.N. Plasmodium malariae Infection Associated with a High Burden of Anemia: A Hospital-Based Surveillance Study. PLoS Negl. Trop. Dis. 2015;9:e0004195. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0004195. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Yman V., Wandell G., Mutemi D.D., Miglar A., Asghar M., Hammar U., Karlsson M., Lind I., Nordfjell C., Rooth I., et al. Persistent transmission of Plasmodium malariae and Plasmodium ovale species in an area of declining Plasmodium falciparum transmission in eastern Tanzania. PLoS Negl. Trop. Dis. 2019;13:e0007414. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0007414. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources