Project Partner, France

P4 INRA, Nouzilly (Laboratory of Multiresistance and Anthelmintics, Laboratory of Ecology and Genetics of Parasites) and Toulouse (Unit of Pharmacology), France
Represented by: Dr. Dominique Kerboeuf, Dr. Jacques Cabaret and Dr. Michel Alvinerie

Laboratory of Multiresistance and Antiparasitic Drugs,
Dr. Dominique Kerboeuf: http://www.tours.inra.fr/PoleSante/internet/equipes/egp.htm
Laboratory of Ecology and Genetics of Parasites,
Dr. Jacques Cabaret: http://www.tours.inra.fr/PoleSante/internet/equipes/mra.htm

The French Agronomical Research Institute (INRA) is a multisite applied research institute that employs about ten thousand people. The Team “Multiresistance and Antiparasitic Drugs”, Tours-Nouzilly is expert in cell biology and functional analyses applied to nematodes, including living parasites. They participated to COST Action B16 on “Reversal of antibiotic resistance by inhibition of membrane transport”. The lab has expertise on methodologies not commonly applied to nematodes such as flow cytometry and other techniques related to fluorescence analysis. They developed and used biological assays for the in vitro study of the efficacy of anthelmintics.
The Team “Ecology and Genetics of Parasites” Tours-Nouzilly is devoted mainly to specific mechanisms of resistance (resistance to benzimidazoles and levamisole) and the relationship between farming systems and acquisition of specific resistance. They coordinated the European Sheep-Prion Programme (end 2003) and participated in the European BSE Soil Fate in 2004 and 2005. They use molecular biology (genotyping for resistance), population genetics, experimental ecology, biostatistics and they developed software for evaluating resistance based on faecal egg counts.
The unit of Pharmacology-Toxicology (Toulouse, UR66) (Michel Alvinerie, staff 5) is largely involved in the relationships between pharmacokinetic aspects and efficacy of anthelmintic drugs. One of the strategies to improve their use is to increase the drug concentration (bioavailability) in the host organism by targeting the P-glycoprotein with specific inhibitors. They have developed cellular tools (hepatocytes, Pgp-overexpressing cells) needed to select compounds of interest that are further tested for their ability to increase drug concentration in vivo in the host.