Dr Abu Sufian Chowdhury

Dr Abu Sufian Chowdhury is a clinical researcher from Bangladesh with both quantitative and qualitative research experience. He is the Clinical Research Coordinator overseeing the clinical researches across TLMI-B.

Dr Sufian completed his Bachelor’s in Medicine and Bachelor’s in Surgery (MBBS) from Rangpur Medical College in Bangladesh in 2012. He is completing his Master of Public Health (MPH) theses from North South University of Bangladesh. After qualifying as a doctor, Dr Sufian worked at LAMB Hospital as a Medical Officer before starting work in The Leprosy Mission International-Bangladesh (TLMI-B) Rural Health Program in 2017. Alongside his work as a field medical officer, he worked on a number of studies including MALTALEP, IDEAL, COLEP and COCOA.

Currently, he is the co-PI on four international, multi-centre studies, both seeking to stop the transmission of leprosy:

1. Novel Interventions and Diagnostic Tests for Leprosy (INDIGO) Erasmus MC and Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC). The INDIGO study aims to determine the effect of BCG, BCG combined with Single-dose rifampicin (SDR) or SDR alone on reduction of new cases as well as on reduction of infection in contacts of leprosy patients. Furthermore, they will assess the effect of the interventions on the level of M. leprae infection of contacts by using a low-complexity test (similar to a glucose dipstick or a pregnancy test) that can detect markers in blood that are associated with M.leprae infection.
   Through this project we will:
   1. Evaluate the effect of BCG and SDR on the development of leprosy
   2. Evaluate the efficacy and feasibility to implement the user-friendly test for detection of infection
2. The 2Bornot2B study, conducted in partnership with LUMC and TLM-Nepal, is designed to investigate the involvement of B-cells and antibodies in leprosy and M. leprae infection, using innovative research tools and functional immunoassays.
3. Stop Transmission of Leprosy: PEP++ study, carried out in collaboration with NLR, seeks to halt the transmission of M. leprae in the designated project intervention areas.
4. Extra-Clofazimine Study, conducted in partnership with Bombay Leprosy Project (BLP), is a clinical trial evaluating the use of clofazimine among multibacillary patients at high risk of developing Erythema Nodosum Leprosum (ENL) reaction.

Publications

2024

Duane C Hinders, Anneke T Taal, Suchitra Lisam, Aymee M da Rocha, Nand Lal Banstola, Prativa Bhandari, Jugal Kishore, Virginia O Fernandes, Abhijit Saha, Abu Sufian Chowdhury, Anna T van 't Noordende, Liesbeth Mieras, Jan Hendrik Richardus, Wim H van Brakel. The PEP++ study protocol: a cluster-randomised controlled trial on the effectiveness of an enhanced regimen of post-exposure prophylaxis for close contacts of persons affected by leprosy to prevent disease transmission. 15 January 2024, https://bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12879-024-09125-2

2021

Anouk van Hooij, Susan J.F. van den Eeden, Marufa Khatun, Santosh Soren, Kees L.M.C. Franken, Johan Chandra Roy, Khorshed Alam, Abu Sufian Chowdhury, Jan Hendrik Richardus, Annemieke Geluk. BCG-induced immunity profiles in household contacts of leprosy patients differentiate between protection and disease. Vaccine. 2021 Dec 8;39(50):7230-7237. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2021.10.027. Epub 2021 Oct 20. PMID: 34688497.

Maria Tio-Coma, Szymon M. Kie»basa, Susan J.F. van den Eeden, Hailiang Mei, Johan Chandra Roy, Jacco Walling, Marufa Khatun, Sontosh Soren, Abu Sufian Chowdhury, Khorshed Alam, Anouk van Hooij, Jan Hendrik Richardus, Annemieke Geluk. Blood RNA signature RISK4LEP predicts leprosy years before clinical onset. BioMedicine 68 (2021) 103379

2020

Anouk van Hooij, Elisa M.Tjon Kon Fat, Danielle de Jong, Marufa Khatun, Santosh Soren, Abu Sufian Chowdhury, Johan Chandra Roy, Khorshed Alam, Jong-Pill Kim, Jan Hendrik Richardus, Annemieke Geluk, Paul L.A.M. Corstjens. Prototype multi-biomarker test for point-of-care leprosy diagnostics. iScience. 2020 Dec 29;24(1):102006. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.102006. PMID: 33490914; PMCID: PMC7807156.

van Hooij A, Tió-Coma M, Verhard EM, Khatun M, Alam K, Tjon Kon Fat E, de Jong D, Abu Sufian Chowdhury,, Corstjens P, Richardus JH, Geluk A. Household Contacts of Leprosy Patients in Endemic Areas Display a Specific Innate Immunity Profile. Front Immunol. 2020 Aug 11;11:1811. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.01811. PMID: 32849645; PMCID: PMC7431626.

2019

Anouk van Hooij, Susan van den Eeden, Renate Richardus, Elisa Tjon Kon Fat, Louis Wilson, Kees L.M.C. Franken, Roel Faber, Merufa Khatun, Khorshed Alam, Abu Sufian Chowdhury, Jan Hendrik Richardus, Paul Corstjens, Annemieke Geluk. Application of new host biomarker profiles in quantitative point-of-care tests facilitates leprosy diagnosis in the field. EBioMedicine 47 (2019) 301–308

Renate Richardus, Khorshed Alam, Kallyan Kundu, Johan Chandra Roy, Tasnuva Zafar, Abu Sufian Chowdhury, Daan Nieboer, Roel Faber, C Ruth Butlin, Annemieke Geluk, Jan Hendrik Richardus. Effectiveness of single-dose rifampicin after BCG vaccination to prevent leprosy in close contacts of patients with newly diagnosed leprosy: A cluster randomized controlled trial. International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases vol. 88 (2019): 65-72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2019.08.035