U.S. Department of Defense
Date of this Version
2005
Citation
Published in Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. (2005) 72(2), pp. 174–181
Abstract
The extent of gene polymorphisms associated with resistance to chloroquine and sulfadoxinepyrimethamine was examined in field isolates of Plasmodium falciparum from Indonesia. Eight malaria-endemic areas, representing a broad region of the western and eastern Indonesian Archipelago were surveyed. Blood from 20−50 patients was collected at each site, DNA was isolated, and the sequences of four different genes (dihydrofolate reductase [dhfr], dihydropteroate synthase [dhps], P. falciparum multidrug resistance 1 [pfmdr1], and P. falciparum chloroquine resistance transporter [pfcrt]) were analyzed using polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphisms to detect polymorphisms previously shown to be associated with resistance. This analysis identified polymorphisms in dhfr at 108-Asn/Thr, 16-Val, and 59-Arg. Polymorphisms in dhps were found less frequently, either 437-Gly alone or paired with 540-Glu. The pfcrt 76-Thr polymorphism was fixed in all parasite populations and pfmdr1 86-Tyr polymorphisms in all populations except in the most eastern regions. The pfmdr1 1042-Asp polymorphism occurred less frequently. These findings indicate that polymorphisms in genes associated with drug resistance in P. falciparum are found across a broad region of Indonesia.