MOLECULAR ANALYSIS OF DRUG RESISTANCE GENES IN CLINICAL SAMPLES OF PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM OBTAINED IN ZARIA, NIGERIA

Abstract

Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease caused by parasites that belong to the genus Plasmodium. It is a disease of public health concern in Nigeria, responsible for millions of deaths worldwide.This study aimed to carry out molecular analysis of drug resistance genes in clinical samples of Plasmodium falciparum in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. A total of 300 consenting participants were enrolled in this study from January to June 2019 at Hajiya Gambo Sawaba General
Hospital, Zaria. Blood samples were collected from them and screened for Plasmodium falciparum by RDT and confirmed by microscopy. The polymerase chain reaction was used to amplify portions of pfmdr1, pfcrt, and pfkelch13 genes carrying known mutations associated with antimalarial drug resistance. Afterward, the pfcrt amplicons were sequenced and the closest matches to the nucleotide sequences were determined using the BLAST tool on the National
Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), the relatedness between sequences was determined by creating a phylogenetic tree. The pfmdr1 gene was detected in 20% (3/15) of the samples while the pfcrt gene was also amplified successfully in five of the samples analyzed, giving a prevalence of 33.3% (5/15). The pfkelch13 was not amplified in all the 15 samples. The detection of segments of pfmdr1 and pfcrt genes harboring single Nucleotide Polymorphisms
associated with chloroquine resistance showed that the Plasmodium falciparum population in the study area may still be chloroquine-resistant. It is therefore recommended that Government should maintain the ban on the use of chloroquine for the treatment of falciparum malaria.