The plasmepsin-piperaquine paradox persists in Plasmodium falciparum.

ABSTRACT: Malaria remains a pressing global health challenge, with rising drug resistance threatening current treatment strategies. Partial resistance to dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DHA-PPQ) has emerged in Southeast Asia, particularly in Plasmodium falciparum strains from Cambodia. While artemisinin partial resistance is associated with mutations in kelch13, reduced PPQ sensitivity has been linked to increased copy numbers of the aspartic protease genes plasmepsin II and III and mutations in the chloroquine resistance transporter. In this study, we demonstrate the effective use of CRISPR-Cas9 technology to generate single knockouts (KO) of plasmepsin II and plasmepsin III, as well as a double KO of both genes, in two isogenic Cambodian parasites with varying numbers of plasmepsin gene copies. Th

SUBMITTER: Walsh B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12321132 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature