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Fraser M, Curtis B, Phillips P, Yates PA, Lam KS, Netzel O, van Dooren GG, Ingmundson A, Matuschewski K, McLeod MD, Maier AG. Harnessing cholesterol uptake of malaria parasites for therapeutic applications. EMBO Mol Med 2024:10.1038/s44321-024-00087-1. [PMID: 38862600 DOI: 10.1038/s44321-024-00087-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2023] [Revised: 05/14/2024] [Accepted: 05/24/2024] [Indexed: 06/13/2024] Open
Abstract
Parasites, such as the malaria parasite P. falciparum, are critically dependent on host nutrients. Interference with nutrient uptake can lead to parasite death and, therefore, serve as a successful treatment strategy. P. falciparum parasites cannot synthesise cholesterol, and instead source this lipid from the host. Here, we tested whether cholesterol uptake pathways could be 'hijacked' for optimal drug delivery to the intracellular parasite. We found that fluorescent cholesterol analogues were delivered from the extracellular environment to the intracellular parasite. We investigated the uptake and inhibitory effects of conjugate compounds, where proven antimalarial drugs (primaquine and artesunate) were attached to steroids that mimic the structure of cholesterol. These conjugated antimalarial drugs improved the inhibitory effects against multiple parasite lifecycle stages, multiple parasite species, and drug-resistant parasites, whilst also lowering the toxicity to human host cells. Steroids with introduced peroxides also displayed antimalarial activity. These results provide a proof-of-concept that cholesterol mimics can be developed as a drug delivery system against apicomplexan parasites with the potential to improve drug efficacy, increase therapeutic index, and defeat drug resistance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Merryn Fraser
- Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, 2601, Australia
- Department of Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Biology, Humboldt University, Berlin, 10115, Germany
- Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Blake Curtis
- Research School of Chemistry, The Australian National University, Canberra, 2601, Australia
- Metabolism of Microbial Pathogens, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, 13353, Germany
| | - Patrick Phillips
- Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, 2601, Australia
| | - Patrick A Yates
- Research School of Chemistry, The Australian National University, Canberra, 2601, Australia
| | - Kwong Sum Lam
- Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, 2601, Australia
| | - Otto Netzel
- Department of Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Biology, Humboldt University, Berlin, 10115, Germany
| | - Giel G van Dooren
- Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, 2601, Australia
| | - Alyssa Ingmundson
- Department of Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Biology, Humboldt University, Berlin, 10115, Germany
| | - Kai Matuschewski
- Department of Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Biology, Humboldt University, Berlin, 10115, Germany
| | - Malcolm D McLeod
- Research School of Chemistry, The Australian National University, Canberra, 2601, Australia.
| | - Alexander G Maier
- Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, 2601, Australia.
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El Saftawy E, Farag MF, Gebreil HH, Abdelfatah M, Aboulhoda BE, Alghamdi M, Albadawi EA, Abd Elkhalek MA. Malaria: biochemical, physiological, diagnostic, and therapeutic updates. PeerJ 2024; 12:e17084. [PMID: 38529311 PMCID: PMC10962339 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.17084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2023] [Accepted: 02/19/2024] [Indexed: 03/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Background Malaria has been appraised as a significant vector-borne parasitic disease with grave morbidity and high-rate mortality. Several challenges have been confronting the efficient diagnosis and treatment of malaria. Method Google Scholar, PubMed, Web of Science, and the Egyptian Knowledge Bank (EKB) were all used to gather articles. Results Diverse biochemical and physiological indices can mirror complicated malaria e.g., hypoglycemia, dyslipidemia, elevated renal and hepatic functions in addition to the lower antioxidant capacity that does not only destroy the parasite but also induces endothelial damage. Multiple trials have been conducted to improve recent points of care in malaria involving biosensors, lap on-chip, and microdevices technology. Regarding recent therapeutic trials, chemical falcipain inhibitors and plant extracts with anti-plasmodial activities are presented. Moreover, antimalaria nano-medicine and the emergence of nanocarrier (either active or passive) in drug transportation are promising. The combination therapeutic trials e.g., amodiaquine + artemether + lumefantrine are presented to safely counterbalance the emerging drug resistance in addition to the Tafenoquine as a new anti-relapse therapy. Conclusion Recognizing the pathophysiology indices potentiate diagnosis of malaria. The new points of care can smartly manipulate the biochemical and hematological alterations for a more sensitive and specific diagnosis of malaria. Nano-medicine appeared promising. Chemical and plant extracts remain points of research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Enas El Saftawy
- Department of Medical Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Giza, Egypt
- Department of Medical Parasitology, Armed Forces College of Medicine, Cairo, Egypt
| | - Mohamed F. Farag
- Department of Medical Physiology, Armed Forces College of Medicine, Cairo, Giza, Egypt
| | - Hossam H. Gebreil
- Department of Medical Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Armed Forces College of Medicine, Cairo, Egypt
| | - Mohamed Abdelfatah
- Department of Medical Physiology, Armed Forces College of Medicine, Cairo, Giza, Egypt
| | - Basma Emad Aboulhoda
- Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Giza, Egypt
| | - Mansour Alghamdi
- Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia
- Genomics and Personalized Medicine Unit, College of Medicine, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia
| | - Emad A. Albadawi
- Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, Taibah University, Madinah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Marwa Ali Abd Elkhalek
- Department of Medical Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Armed Forces College of Medicine, Cairo, Egypt
- Medical Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt
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D'Abramo A, Rinaldi F, Vita S, Mazzieri R, Corpolongo A, Palazzolo C, Ascoli Bartoli T, Faraglia F, Giancola ML, Girardi E, Nicastri E. A machine learning approach for early identification of patients with severe imported malaria. Malar J 2024; 23:46. [PMID: 38351021 PMCID: PMC10865572 DOI: 10.1186/s12936-024-04869-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2023] [Accepted: 02/03/2024] [Indexed: 02/16/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The aim of this study is to design ad hoc malaria learning (ML) approaches to predict clinical outcome in all patients with imported malaria and, therefore, to identify the best clinical setting. METHODS This is a single-centre cross-sectional study, patients with confirmed malaria, consecutively hospitalized to the Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases, Rome, Italy from January 2007 to December 2020, were recruited. Different ML approaches were used to perform the analysis of this dataset: support vector machines, random forests, feature selection approaches and clustering analysis. RESULTS A total of 259 patients with malaria were enrolled, 89.5% patients were male with a median age of 39 y/o. In 78.3% cases, Plasmodium falciparum was found. The patients were classified as severe malaria in 111 cases. From ML analyses, four parameters, AST, platelet count, total bilirubin and parasitaemia, are associated to a negative outcome. Interestingly, two of them, aminotransferase and platelet are not included in the current list of World Health Organization (WHO) criteria for defining severe malaria. CONCLUSION In conclusion, the application of ML algorithms as a decision support tool could enable the clinicians to predict the clinical outcome of patients with malaria and consequently to optimize and personalize clinical allocation and treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandra D'Abramo
- National Institute for Infectious Diseases "Lazzaro Spallanzani" IRCCS, Via Portuense 292, 00149, Rome, Italy
| | - Francesco Rinaldi
- Department of Mathematics "Tullio Levi-Civita", University of Padova, Via Trieste, 63, 35131, Padua, Italy
| | - Serena Vita
- National Institute for Infectious Diseases "Lazzaro Spallanzani" IRCCS, Via Portuense 292, 00149, Rome, Italy.
| | - Riccardo Mazzieri
- Department of Information Engineering, University of Padova, Via Giovanni Gradenigo, 6B, 35131, Padua, Italy
| | - Angela Corpolongo
- National Institute for Infectious Diseases "Lazzaro Spallanzani" IRCCS, Via Portuense 292, 00149, Rome, Italy
| | - Claudia Palazzolo
- National Institute for Infectious Diseases "Lazzaro Spallanzani" IRCCS, Via Portuense 292, 00149, Rome, Italy
| | - Tommaso Ascoli Bartoli
- National Institute for Infectious Diseases "Lazzaro Spallanzani" IRCCS, Via Portuense 292, 00149, Rome, Italy
| | - Francesca Faraglia
- National Institute for Infectious Diseases "Lazzaro Spallanzani" IRCCS, Via Portuense 292, 00149, Rome, Italy
| | - Maria Letizia Giancola
- National Institute for Infectious Diseases "Lazzaro Spallanzani" IRCCS, Via Portuense 292, 00149, Rome, Italy
| | - Enrico Girardi
- National Institute for Infectious Diseases "Lazzaro Spallanzani" IRCCS, Via Portuense 292, 00149, Rome, Italy
| | - Emanuele Nicastri
- National Institute for Infectious Diseases "Lazzaro Spallanzani" IRCCS, Via Portuense 292, 00149, Rome, Italy
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Baba MS, Abd Jalil MA. In Vivo Antimalarial Activity of Trichosanthes cucumerina Against Plasmodium berghei NK65 in Mice. MALAYSIAN APPLIED BIOLOGY 2022; 51:187-192. [DOI: 10.55230/mabjournal.v51i5.2330] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/01/2023]
Abstract
Undoubtedly, malaria is a vector-borne infectious disease that is increasingly being given attention by many researchers in their efforts to find the best drugs for its treatment. Four groups of mice (6-8 weeks old, 20-25 gram body weight (g bw) were inoculated with Plasmodium berghei NK65 intraperitoneally (i.p.) at 1.0 × 106 infected red blood cells (RBC) before being orally treated for the prophylactic and curative treatment regime with 0.2 mL of 100 mg/kg bw freeze-dried T. cucumerina aqueous extract. Parasitemia levels and inhibition rates were microscopically measured using Giemsa stained blood smear method. Trichosanthes cucumerina possessed strong antimalarial activities against P. berghei NK65 infection in mice. A significant correlation was successfully recorded between the survival time of the seven-day prophylactic treatment group (P7) with its ability to inhibit parasite growth as compared to the curative treatment groups. However, these values are still incomparable to the control group treated with the commercial drugs primaquine and chloroquine. In addition, blood biochemical toxicity analysis of ALT, AST, ALP, and STP showed that acute and sub-acute toxicity treatments of T. cucumerina did not cause liver injury and were non-toxic to the animals. Thus, this study significantly proves (p≤0.05, n=6) that T. cucumerina has antiparasitic properties that can be manipulated as an alternative antimalarial drug.
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Bi D, Lin J, Luo X, Lin L, Tang X, Luo X, Lu Y, Huang X. Biochemical characteristics of patients with imported malaria. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2022; 12:1008430. [DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2022.1008430] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2022] [Accepted: 09/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
ObjectivesThis study aimed to investigate the clinical and biochemical profiles of patients with imported malaria infection between 1 January 2011 and 30 April 2022 and admitted to the Fourth People’s Hospital of Nanning.MethodsThis cohort study enrolled 170 patients with conformed imported malaria infection. The clinical and biochemical profiles of these participants were analyzed with malaria parasite clearance, and signs and symptoms related to malaria disappearance were defined as the primary outcome. A multivariable logistic regression model was used to evaluate the odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for cerebral malaria. The Cox model was used to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% CIs for parasite clearance.ResultsAdenosine deaminase and parasitemia were found to be independent risk factors for severe malaria in patients with imported malaria (OR = 1.0088, 95% CI: 1.0010–1.0167, p = 0.0272 and OR = 2.0700, 95% CI: 1.2584–3.4050, p = 0.0042, respectively). A 0.5–standard deviation (SD) increase of variation for urea (HR = 0.6714, 95% CI: 0.4911–0.9180), a 0.5-SD increase of variation for creatinine (HR = 0.4566, 95% CI: 0.2762–0.7548), a 0.25-SD increase of variation for albumin (HR = 0.4947, 95% CI: 0.3197–0.7653), a 0.25-SD increase of variation for hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase (HR = 0.6129, 95% CI: 0.3995–0.9402), and a 1.0-SD increase of variation for ferritin (HR = 0.5887, 95% CI: 0.3799–0.9125) were associated with a higher risk for increased parasite clearance duration than a low-level change.ConclusionsAspartate aminotransferase, urea, creatinine, albumin, hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase, and ferritin are useful biochemical indicators in routine clinical practice to evaluate prognosis for imported malaria.
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