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Liu R, Li G, Li M, Wang B, Zhang D, Xu L, Zhao L, Liao R, Xu Q, Bei ZC, Song Y. In vitro interaction of naphthoquine with ivermectin, atovaquone, curcumin, and ketotifen in the asexual blood stage of Plasmodium falciparum 3D7. Microbiol Spectr 2024; 12:e0063024. [PMID: 38780257 PMCID: PMC11218538 DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.00630-24] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2024] [Accepted: 04/22/2024] [Indexed: 05/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Naphthoquine is a promising candidate for antimalarial combination therapy. Its combination with artemisinin has demonstrated excellent efficacy in clinical trials conducted across various malaria-endemic areas. A co-formulated combination of naphthoquine and azithromycin has also shown high clinical efficacy for malaria prophylaxis in Southeast Asia. Developing new combination therapies using naphthoquine will provide additional arsenal responses to the growing threat of artemisinin resistance. Furthermore, due to its long half-life, the possible interaction of naphthoquine with other drugs also needs attention. However, studies on its pharmacodynamic interactions with other drugs are still limited. In this study, the in vitro interactions of naphthoquine with ivermectin, atovaquone, curcumin, and ketotifen were evaluated in the asexual stage of Plasmodium falciparum 3D7. By using the combination index analysis and the SYBR Green I-based fluorescence assay, different interaction patterns of selected drugs with naphthoquine were revealed. Curcumin showed a slight but significant synergistic interaction with naphthoquine at lower effect levels, and no antagonism was observed across the full range of effect levels for all tested ratios. Atovaquone showed a potency decline when combined with naphthoquine. For ivermectin, a significant antagonism with naphthoquine was observed at a broad range of effect levels below 75% inhibition, although no significant interaction was observed at higher effect levels. Ketotifen interacted with naphthoquine similar to ivermectin, but significant antagonism was observed for only one tested ratio. These findings should be helpful to the development of new naphthoquine-based combination therapy and the clinically reasonable application of naphthoquine-containing therapies. IMPORTANCE Pharmacodynamic interaction between antimalarials is not only crucial for the development of new antimalarial combination therapies but also important for the appropriate clinical use of antimalarials. The significant synergism between curcumin and naphthoquine observed in this study suggests the potential value for further development of new antimalarial combination therapy. The finding of a decline in atovaquone potency in the presence of naphthoquine alerts to a possible risk of treatment or prophylaxis failure for atovaquone-proguanil following naphthoquine-containing therapies. The observation of antagonism between naphthoquine and ivermectin raised a need for concern about the applicability of naphthoquine-containing therapy in malaria-endemic areas with ivermectin mass drug administration deployed. Considering the role of atovaquone-proguanil as a major alternative when first-line artemisinin-based combination therapy is ineffective and the wide implementation of ivermectin mass drug administration in malaria-endemic countries, the above findings will be important for the appropriate clinical application of antimalarials involving naphthoquine-containing therapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruotong Liu
- Artemisinin Research Center, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, China
| | - Guoming Li
- Artemisinin Research Center, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, China
| | - Mei Li
- Artemisinin Research Center, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, China
| | - Baogang Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, China
| | - Dongna Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, China
| | - Likun Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, China
| | - Liangliang Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, China
| | - Ruhe Liao
- Artemisinin Research Center, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, China
| | - Qin Xu
- Artemisinin Research Center, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China
| | - Zhu-Chun Bei
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, China
| | - Yabin Song
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, China
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Liu H, Xu JW, Deng DW, Yaw B, Nbwi HS, Wei C, Zhou XW, Li JX. Artemisinin-naphthoquine plus lower-dose primaquine to treat and prevent recurrence of Plasmodium vivax malaria: an open-label randomized and non-inferiority trial. Parasit Vectors 2024; 17:28. [PMID: 38254128 PMCID: PMC10804781 DOI: 10.1186/s13071-023-06058-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2023] [Accepted: 11/15/2023] [Indexed: 01/24/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Plasmodium vivax malaria, with the widest geographic distribution, can cause severe disease and death. Primaquine is the main licensed antimalarial drug that can kill hypnozoites. The dose-dependent acute haemolysis in individuals with glucose-6-phospate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency is the main safety concern when using primaquine. The recommended treatment regimen for P. vivax malaria is chloroquine plus primaquine for 14 days (CQPQ14) in Myanmar. The study aimed to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy, safety and adherence for the regimen of artemisinin-naphthoquine plus primaquine for 3 days (ANPQ3) in patients with P. vivax infections compared to those with CQPQ14. METHODS The patients in the ANPQ3 group were given fixed-dose artemisinin-naphthoquine (a total 24.5 mg/kg bodyweight) plus a lower total primaquine dose (0.9 mg/kg bodyweight) for 3 days. The patients in the CQPQ14 group were given a total chloroquine dose of 30 mg/kg body weight for 3 days plus a total primaquine dose of 4.2 mg/kg bodyweight for 14 days. All patients were followed up for 365 days. RESULTS A total of 288 patients completed follow-up, 172 in the ANPQ3 group and 116 in the CQPQ14 group. The first recurrence patients were detected by day 58 in both groups. By day 182, 16 recurrences had been recorded: 12 (7.0%) patients in the ANPQ3 group and 4 (3.4%) in the CQPQ14 group. The difference in recurrence-free patients was 3.5 (-8.6 to 1.5) percentage points between ANPQ3 and CQPQ14 group (P = 0.2946). By day 365, the percentage of recurrence-free patients was not significant between the two groups (P = 0.2257). Mean fever and parasite clearance time of ANPQ3 group were shorter than those in CQPQ14 group (P ≤ 0.001). No severe adverse effect was observed in ANPQ3 group, but five (3.9%) patients had acute haemolysis in CQPQ14 group (P = 0.013). Medication percentage of ANPQ3 group was significantly higher than that of CQPQ14 group (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS Both ANPQ3 and CQPQ14 promised clinical cure efficacy, and the radical cure efficacy was similar between the ANPQ3 and CQPQ14 group. ANPQ3 clears fever and parasites faster than CQPQ14. ANPQ3 is safer and shows better patient adherence to the regimen for treatment of P. vivax malaria along the China-Myanmar border. TRIAL REGISTRATION ChiCTR-INR-17012523. Registered 31 August 2017, https://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.html?proj=21352.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hui Liu
- Yunnan Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory of Vector-Borne Disease Control and Research, Yunnan International Joint Laboratory of Tropical Infectious Diseases, Pu'er, China, 665000.
| | - Jian-Wei Xu
- Yunnan Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory of Vector-Borne Disease Control and Research, Yunnan International Joint Laboratory of Tropical Infectious Diseases, Pu'er, China, 665000
| | - Dao-Wei Deng
- Yunnan Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory of Vector-Borne Disease Control and Research, Yunnan International Joint Laboratory of Tropical Infectious Diseases, Pu'er, China, 665000
| | - Bi Yaw
- Laiza City Hospital, Laiza Town, Kachin Special Region II, Myanmar
| | | | - Chun Wei
- Yunnan Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory of Vector-Borne Disease Control and Research, Yunnan International Joint Laboratory of Tropical Infectious Diseases, Pu'er, China, 665000
| | - Xing-Wu Zhou
- Yunnan Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory of Vector-Borne Disease Control and Research, Yunnan International Joint Laboratory of Tropical Infectious Diseases, Pu'er, China, 665000
| | - Jian-Xiong Li
- Yunnan Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory of Vector-Borne Disease Control and Research, Yunnan International Joint Laboratory of Tropical Infectious Diseases, Pu'er, China, 665000
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Ji S, Liu M, Galon EM, Rizk MA, Tuvshintulga B, Li J, Zafar I, Hasegawa Y, Iguchi A, Yokoyama N, Xuan X. Inhibitory effect of naphthoquine phosphate on Babesia gibsoni in vitro and Babesia rodhaini in vivo. Parasit Vectors 2022; 15:10. [PMID: 34991686 PMCID: PMC8740460 DOI: 10.1186/s13071-021-05127-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2021] [Accepted: 12/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Drug resistance and toxic side effects are major challenges in the treatment of babesiosis. As such, new drugs are needed to combat the emergence of drug resistance in Babesia parasites and to develop alternative treatment strategies. A combination of naphthoquine (NQ) and artemisinin is an antimalarial therapy in pharmaceutical markets. The present study repurposed NQ as a drug for the treatment of babesiosis by evaluating the anti-Babesia activity of naphthoquine phosphate (NQP) alone. METHODS An in vitro growth inhibition assay of NQP was tested on Babesia gibsoni cultures using a SYBR Green I-based fluorescence assay. In addition, the in vivo growth inhibitory effect of NQP was evaluated using BALB/c mice infected with Babesia rodhaini. The parasitemia level and hematocrit values were monitored to determine the therapeutic efficacy of NQP and the clinical improvements in NQP-treated mice. RESULTS The half maximal inhibitory concentration of NQP against B. gibsoni in vitro was 3.3 ± 0.5 μM. Oral administration of NQP for 5 consecutive days at a dose of 40 mg/kg of body weight resulted in significant inhibition of B. rodhaini growth in mice as compared with that of the control group. All NQP-treated mice survived, whereas the mice in the control group died between days 6 and 9 post-infection. CONCLUSION This is the first study to evaluate the anti-Babesia activity of NQP in vitro and in vivo. Our findings suggest that NQP is a promising drug for treating Babesia infections, and drug repurposing may provide new treatment strategies for babesiosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shengwei Ji
- National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Hokkaido, 080-8555, Japan
| | - Mingming Liu
- National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Hokkaido, 080-8555, Japan.,Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Basic Medicine, Hubei University of Arts and Science, Xiangyang, 441053, China
| | - Eloiza May Galon
- National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Hokkaido, 080-8555, Japan
| | - Mohamed Abdo Rizk
- National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Hokkaido, 080-8555, Japan.,Department of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, 35516, Egypt
| | - Bumduuren Tuvshintulga
- National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Hokkaido, 080-8555, Japan
| | - Jixu Li
- National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Hokkaido, 080-8555, Japan.,College of Agriculture and Animal Science, Qinghai University, Xining, 810016, China
| | - Iqra Zafar
- National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Hokkaido, 080-8555, Japan
| | - Yae Hasegawa
- National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Hokkaido, 080-8555, Japan
| | - Aiko Iguchi
- Joint Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agriculture, Tottori University, Tottori, 680-8550, Japan
| | - Naoaki Yokoyama
- National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Hokkaido, 080-8555, Japan
| | - Xuenan Xuan
- National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Hokkaido, 080-8555, Japan.
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Abstract
Malaria persists as a major health problem due to the spread of drug resistance and the lack of effective vaccines. DNA gyrase is a well-validated and extremely effective therapeutic target in bacteria, and it is also known to be present in the apicoplast of malarial species, including Plasmodium falciparum. This raises the possibility that it could be a useful target for novel antimalarials. To date, characterization and screening of this gyrase have been hampered by difficulties in cloning and purification of the GyrA subunit, which is necessary together with GyrB for reconstitution of the holoenzyme. To overcome this, we employed a library of compounds with specificity for P. falciparum GyrB and assessed them in activity tests utilizing P. falciparum GyrB together with Escherichia coli GyrA to reconstitute a functional hybrid enzyme. Two inhibitory compounds were identified that preferentially inhibited the supercoiling activity of the hybrid enzyme over the E. coli enzyme. Of these, purpurogallin (PPG) was found to disrupt DNA binding to the hybrid gyrase complex and thus reduce the DNA-induced ATP hydrolysis of the enzyme. Binding studies indicated that PPG showed higher-affinity binding to P. falciparum GyrB than to the E. coli protein. We suggest that PPG achieves its inhibitory effect on gyrase through interaction with P. falciparum GyrB leading to disruption of DNA binding and, consequently, reduction of DNA-induced ATPase activity. The compound also showed an inhibitory effect against the malaria parasite in vitro and may be of interest for further development as an antimalarial agent.
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