Single-Dose Primaquine in a Preclinical Model of Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase Deficiency: Implications for Use in Malaria Transmission-Blocking Programs

Individuals with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency (G6PDd) are at risk for developing hemolytic anemia when given the antimalarial drug primaquine (PQ). The WHO Evidence Review Group released a report suggesting that mass administration of a single dose of PQ at 0.25 mg of base/kg of body weight (mpk) (mouse equivalent of 3.125 mpk) could potentially reduce malaria transmission based on its gametocytocidal activity and could be safely administered to G6PD-deficient individuals, but there are limited safety data available confirming the optimum single dose of PQ. A single-dose administration of PQ was therefore assessed in our huRBC-SCID mouse model used to predict hemolytic toxicity with respect to G6PD deficiency. In this model, nonobese diabetic (NOD)/SCID mice are engrafted with human red blood cells (huRBC) from donors with the African or Mediterranean variant of G6PDd (A-G6PDd or Med-G6PDd, respectively) and demonstrate dose-dependent sensitivity to PQ. In mice engrafted with A-G6PD-deficient huRBC, single-dose PQ at 3.125, 6.25, or 12.5 mpk had no significant loss of huRBC compared to the vehicle control group. In contrast, in mice engrafted with Med-G6PDd huRBC, a single dose of PQ at 3.125, 6.25, or 12.5 mpk resulted in a significant, dose-dependent loss of huRBC compared to the value for the vehicle control group. Our data suggest that administration of a single low dose of 0.25 mpk of PQ could induce hemolytic anemia in Med-G6PDd individuals but that use of single-dose PQ at 0.25 mpk as a gametocytocidal drug to block transmission would be safe in areas where A-G6PDd predominates.