Albendazole metabolites excretion in human saliva as a biomarker to assess treatment compliance in mass drug administration (MDA) anthelmintic programs

NIEVES, E.; CIMINO, R.; KROLEWIECKI, A.; JUAREZ, M.; LANUSSE, C.; ALVAREZ, L.; CEBALLOS, L.

Scientific Reports

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Año: 2024 vol. 14

Soil-transmitted-helminth (STH) infections continue to be a persistent global public health problem.Control strategies for STH have been based on the use of mass drug administration (MDA). Coverageand compliance assessment is critical to understanding the true effectiveness of albendazole (ABZ)in those MDA programs. The aims of this work were to characterize the pattern of albendazoleand metabolites excretion in human saliva, and to develop a saliva-based biomarker (HPLC drug/metabolite detection) useful to accurately estimate the coverage/compliance in MDA campaigns. Thestudy subjects were 12 healthy volunteers treated with a single oral dose of ABZ (400 mg). Saliva andblood (dried blood spot, DBS) samples were taken previously and between 2 and 72 h post-treatment.The samples were analyzed by HPLC with UV detection, C18reversed-phase column. ABZ sulphoxidewas the main analyte recovered up to 72 h p.t. in blood and saliva. The concentration profilesmeasured in the blood (DBS samples) were higher (P < 0.05) than those in saliva, however, this ABZmetabolitewas recovered longer in saliva. The in vivo measurement of drugs/metabolites in salivasamples from ABZ-treated volunteers offers strong scientific evidence to support the use of saliva as avalid biological sample for assessing compliance in MDA programs.