Molecular markers associated with antimalarial drug resistance in the Colombian Caribbean: State of knowledge

Marcadores moleculares asociados a resistencia antimalárica en la región Caribe Colombiana: Estado del conocimiento

Objective: Review the state of knowledge of molecular markers associated with antimalarial drug resistance in the Colombian Caribbean. Methods: A systematic review of scientific literature the available scientific literature was conducted about molecular markers associated with antimalarial drug resistance. The search was done in databases following criteria: "PCR" "Plasmodium falciparum" "Plasmodium vivax" "Resistance" "Antimalarial" "genes" in departments of: Atlántico, Bolívar, Cesar, La Guajira, Magdalena, Sucre and the San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina Islands between 2000-2020. Results: Four studies were included in Sucre (2005), Magdalena (2010) and Bolívar (2013 and 2017) departments. The genetic variants S108N in pfdhfr and A437G in pfdhps of P.falciparum were identified in Sucre and Bolívar respectively, K76T in pfcrt of P.falciparum in Magdalena and F1076L - Y976F of pvmrd-1 in P.vivax de Bolívar. Studies of Bolívar department that used Sanger sequencing identified the genetic variants S436F-K540E in pfdhps and T958M in pvmdr-1. Conclusions: There are few studies of molecular markers associated with antimalarial drug resistance in the Colombian Caribbean, which indicates that we are far from defining the antimalarial resistance profile in the Colombian Caribbean. The molecular surveillance is necessary using the recent technologies. Key words: Molecular markers, Resistance, Antimalarial, Caribbean, Colombia.

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