22 Eyl 2025 Pazartesi
Multiplicity of infections and genetic structure of P. vivax clinical isolates from urban Kolkata, India
Abstract : Plasmodium vivax is the most prevalent malarial species and 2.85 billion people are at risk of infection. Little is known about the genetic diversity of prevalent parasite species. This study aimed to investigate the multiplicity of infections and genetic structure of P. vivax population in Kolkata. P. vivax mono-infected blood collected during a drug efficacy study (Registration Number: CTRI/2011/09/002031) at the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine were used for the study. DNA was extracted and nested PCR-RFLP method was used to determine the genetic diversity of P. vivax by analyzing the central domain of pvcsp and F1, F3 fragments of pvmsp1 gene. In pvmsp1, 25 different genotypes (MOI=1.50, HE=0.843) in F1 fragment; 20 genotypes (MOI=1.39, HE=0.836) in F3 were noted whereas 24 different genotypes (MOI=1.08, HE=0.951) were observed in pvcsp. All but one isolates harboured VK210 allele and one isolate with VK247 allele with Bst-NI restriction site. These results indicate that extensively diverse pvcsp and pvmsp1 variants of P. vivax are prevailing in the study area. These markers can be useful in conducting clinical trials for the evaluation of CSP and MSP - based vaccine formulations, relapse/recrudescence case detection and to establish eventual changes in the parasite population dynamics.