Relationship of global chloroquine transport and reversal of resistance in Plasmodium falciparum

Abstract

Control of falciparum malaria has become almost impossible in many areas due to the development of resistance to chloroquine and other antimalarial drugs. Verapamil and a number of unrelated compounds which chemosensitise multi-drug resistant cancer cells also enhance chloroquine susceptibility in Plasmodium falciparum. Chloroquine is accumulated to lower levels in resistant plasmodia, hence the reversal of chloroquine resistance has been attributed to the ability of chemosensitising agents to increase the amount of chloroquine accumulated by the resistant parasite. We have conducted a detailed examination of the effect of verapamil on chloroquine sensitivity and its relationship to chloroquine accumulation. The ability of verapamil to increase steady-state chloroquine accumulation was found to be totally insufficient to explain the increase in chloroquine sensitivity caused by the drug. In contrast, when chloroquine accumulation was increased by raising the pH gradient, the corresponding shifts in sensitivity to chloroquine could be accurately predicted. These results were confirmed with other classes of chemosensitisers and we conclude that an alternative mechanistic explanation is required to completely explain the reversal of chloroquine resistance in P. falciparum.