Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Review Article | OPEN ACCESS

Chloroquine bioconjugates and hybrid compounds: past and recent developments in combatting chloroquine resistant malaria

Abdul Wahab Aliyu^1,2, Khairul Mohd Fadzli Mustaffa¹ , Lee Chong Yew³, Low Jen Hou⁴

¹Institute for Research in Molecular Medicine, Health Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 16150 Kubang Kerian, Kota Bharu, Kelantan; ²Pharmaceutical Microbiology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Gombe State University, P.M.B 127, Tudun Wada Gombe, Gombe State, Nigeria; ³Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Main Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia; ⁴Department of Pharmacology, School of Medical Sciences , Universiti Sains Malaysia, 16150 Kubang Kerian, Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia.

For correspondence:-

Accepted: 22 December 2021 Published: 31 December 2021

Citation: Aliyu AW, Mustaffa KM, Yew LC, Hou LJ. Chloroquine bioconjugates and hybrid compounds: past and recent developments in combatting chloroquine resistant malaria. Trop J Pharm Res 2021; 20(12):2663-2674 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v20i12.29

© 2021 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Drug structural modification through conjugation with bioactive chemical compound or biological agent provides the opportunity to combine their intrinsic desirable properties as a single agent to combat drug resistance. By focusing on chloroquine (CQ) as therapeutic agent to reverse CQ resistance in Plasmodium falciparum, this review initially discusses the development of chloroquine hybrid compound through covalent biotherapy and bioconjugation. Chloroquine-bioconjugate containing amino acids, peptide, polysaccharides and bio-organometals were highlighted. Then, the use of chloroquine hybrid and conjugates in patients and in clinical trial were comprehensively enumerated and lastly, the review summarizes the challenges and current trend in reversing CQ resistance in malaria.

Keywords: Chloroquine, Hybrid compounds, Bioconjugates, Resistance and P. falciparum