Plasmodium chabaudi: Efficacy of artemisinin + curcumin combination treatment on a clone selected for artemisinin resistance in mice

Recent studies have proposed curcumin as a potential partner for artemisinin in artemisinin combination therapies to treat malaria infections. The efficacy of curcumin alone and in combination with artemisinin was evaluated on a clone of Plasmodium chabaudi selected for artemisinin resistance in vivo. The addition of piperine as an enhancer of curcumin activity was also tested. Results indicated that curcumin, both alone and in combination with piperine had only a modest antimalarial effect and was not able to reverse the artemisinin-resistant phenotype or significantly affect growth of the tested clone when used in combination with artemisinin. This is in contrast with previous in vivo work and calls for further experimental evaluation of the antimalarial potential of curcumin.