Surveillance of genetic variations associated with antimalarial resistance of Plasmodium falciparum from returned migrant workers in Wuhan, Central China [PublishAheadOfPrint]

Antimalarial drug resistance developed in Plasmodium falciparum has become a problem for malaria control. Evaluation of drug resistance is the first step for effective malaria control. In this study, we investigated the gene mutations of P. falciparum using blood samples from the Chinese returned migrant workers in order to identify drug resistance-associated molecular markers. These workers returned from Africa and Southeast Asia (SEA) during 2011-2016. The polymorphisms in pfcrt, pfmdr1, and k13-propeller genes and the haplotype patterns of Pfcrt and Pfmdr1 were analyzed. The results showed the presence of four haplotypes of Pfcrt codons 72-76, including CVMNK (wild type), SVMNT, and CVIET (mutation type), CV M/I N/E K/T (mixed type), with 50.57%, 1.14%, 25.00%, and 23.30% prevalence, respectively. For Pfmdr1, N86Y (22.28%) and Y184F (60.01%) were the main prevalent mutations. The prevalence of mutation at position 550, 561, 575, and 589 of K13-propeller were 1.09%, 0.54%, 0.54% and 0.54%, respectively. These data suggested that Pfcrt, Pfmdr1, and K13-propeller polymorphisms are the potential markers to assess drug resistance of P. falciparum in China, Africa and SEA.

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