BioCentury
ARTICLE | Distillery Techniques

Assays and screens

July 25, 2017 8:43 PM UTC

A method of quantifying blood levels of P. falciparum HRPII could help predict the risk of post-artesunate delayed hemolysis, a form of anemia caused by previous Plasmodium infection of erythrocytes in malaria patients receiving artesunate. In RBCs from 11 malaria patients treated with artesunate, high levels of HRPII correlated with high levels of a marker of prior P. falciparum infection. The method involves sampling blood from artesunate-treated malaria patients on the third day of treatment and combining serial dilution of the samples with detection of HRPII via the BinaxNOW Malaria test to quantify blood levels of HRPII. In blood samples from 53 artesunate-treated patients, detection of HRPII in blood samples from the third day of treatment correctly predicted post-artesunate delayed hemolysis with 78% sensitivity and 98% specificity. Next steps include validating the method in a larger cohort of patients...