CYP2C8 Polymorphisms among malaria patients in Guinea-Bissau

Malaria is one of the major public health problems in more than 90 countries, inhabited by a total of some 2.4 billion people, representing about 40% of the world’s population (WHO, 2004). Amodiaquine (AQ) has been recently introduced into artemisinin-based combination therapy for use in malaria control programmes and as a first line treatment for children with uncomplicated malaria (WHO, 2006). Besides amodiaquine, CYP2C8 also metabolizes several therapeutically important drugs and endogenous substances including: paclitaxel, verapamil, rosiglitazone, cerivastatin, amiodarone, dapsone, all-trans-retinoic acid, arachidonic acid. Research objectives: To study CYP2C8 alleles among malaria patients from Guinea Bissau; To assist policy-makers in the management of malaria in Guinea-Bissau; To generate pharmacogenetic data for the evaluation of treatment and drug dispension; To contribute findings to other databases and bio-banks within and outside Europe; To allow further comparisons with other populations previously characterized in the Center for Molecular and Structural Biomedicine, Universidade do Algarve, Portugal