Table 2 |
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|
Checklist for the design of future studies on molecular markers |
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|
Key points |
Action |
Cornerstones |
|
|
||
|
Treatment |
Use standard drug regimen |
WHO guidelines |
|
Patient follow-up |
Adapt follow-up to the drug tested |
WHO guidelines |
|
Prevalence of mutations |
Do not test SNP close to fixation |
< 50% |
|
Rate of therapeutic failure |
Do not test drugs with high failure rate |
> 25% |
|
Level of immunity |
Clearly define the target population |
< 5 years old/all ages; depending on the transmission level |
|
Level of transmission |
Genotype for multiplicity of infection |
MMV-WHO 2007 guidelines |
|
Level of transmission |
Genotype for reinfection/recrudescence |
MMV-WHO 2007 guidelines |
|
Gene polymorphism |
Genotype all known alleles of target gene |
Provide separate and cumulative analysis for codons tested |
|
Data report |
Link each patient (adequate or failure) with point mutation or wild type |
Provide nb. of: Adequate wild-type Adequate mutated Failure wild-type Failure mutated |
|
Multi-arms study |
Do not aggregate data from different areas, drug regimen, and study periods. Do not mix retrospective/prospective studies |
Provide complete data and link for each arm of the study |
|
Quality control |
PCR for diagnosis and genotyping |
WWARN reference labs |
|
|
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Picot et al. Malaria Journal 2009 8:89 doi:10.1186/1475-2875-8-89 |
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