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Lin Y, Scalese G, Bulman CA, Vinck R, Blacque O, Paulino M, Ballesteros-Casallas A, Pérez Díaz L, Salinas G, Mitreva M, Weil T, Cariou K, Sakanari JA, Gambino D, Gasser G. Antifungal and Antiparasitic Activities of Metallocene-Containing Fluconazole Derivatives. ACS Infect Dis 2024; 10:938-950. [PMID: 38329933 DOI: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.3c00577] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/10/2024]
Abstract
The search for new anti-infectives based on metal complexes is gaining momentum. Among the different options taken by researchers, the one involving the use of organometallic complexes is probably the most successful one with a compound, namely, ferroquine, already in clinical trials against malaria. In this study, we describe the preparation and in-depth characterization of 10 new (organometallic) derivatives of the approved antifungal drug fluconazole. Our rationale is that the sterol 14α-demethylase is an enzyme part of the ergosterol biosynthesis route in Trypanosoma and is similar to the one in pathogenic fungi. To demonstrate our postulate, docking experiments to assess the binding of our compounds with the enzyme were also performed. Our compounds were then tested on a range of fungal strains and parasitic organisms, including the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi) responsible for Chagas disease, an endemic disease in Latin America that ranks among some of the most prevalent parasitic diseases worldwide. Of high interest, the two most potent compounds of the study on T. cruzi that contain a ferrocene or cobaltocenium were found to be harmless for an invertebrate animal model, namely, Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), without affecting motility, viability, or development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yan Lin
- Chimie ParisTech, PSL University, CNRS, Institute of Chemistry for Life and Health Sciences, Laboratory for Inorganic Chemical Biology, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Gonzalo Scalese
- Área Química Inorgánica, Facultad de Química, Universidad de la República, 11800 Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Christina A Bulman
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94158, United States
| | - Robin Vinck
- Chimie ParisTech, PSL University, CNRS, Institute of Chemistry for Life and Health Sciences, Laboratory for Inorganic Chemical Biology, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Olivier Blacque
- Department of Chemistry, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Margot Paulino
- Área Bioinformática, Departamento DETEMA, Facultad de Química, Universidad de la República, 11600 Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Andres Ballesteros-Casallas
- Área Bioinformática, Departamento DETEMA, Facultad de Química, Universidad de la República, 11600 Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Leticia Pérez Díaz
- Sección Genómica Funcional, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, 11400 Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Gustavo Salinas
- Worm Biology Lab, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, 11400 Montevideo, Uruguay
- Departamento de Biociencias, Facultad de Química, Universidad de la República, 11800 Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Makedonka Mitreva
- Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63108, United States
| | - Tobias Weil
- Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach, Via E. Mach 1, 38010 San Michele all'Adige, Italy
| | - Kevin Cariou
- Chimie ParisTech, PSL University, CNRS, Institute of Chemistry for Life and Health Sciences, Laboratory for Inorganic Chemical Biology, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Judy A Sakanari
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94158, United States
| | - Dinorah Gambino
- Área Química Inorgánica, Facultad de Química, Universidad de la República, 11800 Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - Gilles Gasser
- Chimie ParisTech, PSL University, CNRS, Institute of Chemistry for Life and Health Sciences, Laboratory for Inorganic Chemical Biology, 75005 Paris, France
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Abstract
Schistosomes are parasitic flatworms that cause schistosomiasis, a neglected tropical disease affecting over 200 million people. Schistosomes develop multiple body plans while navigating their complex life cycle, which involves two different hosts: a mammalian definitive host and a molluscan intermediate host. Their survival and propagation depend upon proliferation and differentiation of stem cells necessary for parasite homeostasis and reproduction. Infective larvae released from snails carry a handful of stem cells that serve as the likely source of new tissues as the parasite adapts to life inside the mammalian host; however, the role of these stem cells during this critical life cycle stage remains unclear. Here, we characterize stem cell fates during early intramammalian development. Surprisingly, we find that the esophageal gland, an accessory organ of the digestive tract, develops before the rest of the digestive system is formed and blood feeding is initiated, suggesting a role in processes beyond nutrient uptake. To explore such a role, we examine schistosomes that lack the esophageal gland due to knockdown of a forkhead-box transcription factor, Sm-foxA, which blocks development and maintenance of the esophageal gland, without affecting the development of other somatic tissues. Intriguingly, schistosomes lacking the esophageal gland die after transplantation into naive mice, but survive in immunodeficient mice lacking B cells. We show that parasites lacking the esophageal gland are unable to lyse ingested immune cells within the esophagus before passing them into the gut. These results unveil an immune-evasion mechanism mediated by the esophageal gland, which is essential for schistosome survival and pathogenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jayhun Lee
- Regenerative Biology, Morgridge Institute for Research, Madison, WI 53715
| | - Tracy Chong
- Regenerative Biology, Morgridge Institute for Research, Madison, WI 53715
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53715
| | - Phillip A Newmark
- Regenerative Biology, Morgridge Institute for Research, Madison, WI 53715;
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53715
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53715
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Bryant AS, Ruiz F, Gang SS, Castelletto ML, Lopez JB, Hallem EA. A Critical Role for Thermosensation in Host Seeking by Skin-Penetrating Nematodes. Curr Biol 2018; 28:2338-2347.e6. [PMID: 30017486 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.05.063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2018] [Revised: 05/18/2018] [Accepted: 05/22/2018] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Skin-penetrating parasitic nematodes infect approximately one billion people worldwide and are a major source of neglected tropical disease [1-6]. Their life cycle includes an infective third-larval (iL3) stage that searches for hosts to infect in a poorly understood process that involves both thermal and olfactory cues. Here, we investigate the temperature-driven behaviors of skin-penetrating iL3s, including the human-parasitic threadworm Strongyloides stercoralis and the human-parasitic hookworm Ancylostoma ceylanicum. We show that human-parasitic iL3s respond robustly to thermal gradients. Like the free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, human-parasitic iL3s show both positive and negative thermotaxis, and the switch between them is regulated by recent cultivation temperature [7]. When engaging in positive thermotaxis, iL3s migrate toward temperatures approximating mammalian body temperature. Exposing iL3s to a new cultivation temperature alters the thermal switch point between positive and negative thermotaxis within hours, similar to the timescale of thermal plasticity in C. elegans [7]. Thermal plasticity in iL3s may enable them to optimize host finding on a diurnal temperature cycle. We show that temperature-driven responses can be dominant in multisensory contexts such that, when thermal drive is strong, iL3s preferentially engage in temperature-driven behaviors despite the presence of an attractive host odorant. Finally, targeted mutagenesis of the S. stercoralis tax-4 homolog abolishes heat seeking, providing the first evidence that parasitic host-seeking behaviors are generated through an adaptation of sensory cascades that drive environmental navigation in C. elegans [7-10]. Together, our results provide insight into the behavioral strategies and molecular mechanisms that allow skin-penetrating nematodes to target humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Astra S Bryant
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Felicitas Ruiz
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Spencer S Gang
- Molecular Biology Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Michelle L Castelletto
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Jacqueline B Lopez
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Elissa A Hallem
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA; Molecular Biology Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
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Abstract
Climate is changing rapidly in the Arctic. This has important implications for parasites of Arctic ungulates, and hence for the welfare of Arctic peoples who depend on caribou, reindeer, and muskoxen for food, income, and a focus for cultural activities. In this Opinion article we briefly review recent work on the development of predictive models for the impacts of climate change on helminth parasites and other pathogens of Arctic wildlife, in the hope that such models may eventually allow proactive mitigation and conservation strategies. We describe models that have been developed using the metabolic theory of ecology. The main strength of these models is that they can be easily parameterized using basic information about the physical size of the parasite. Initial results suggest they provide important new insights that are likely to generalize to a range of host-parasite systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andy Dobson
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Eno Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
| | - Péter K Molnár
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Susan Kutz
- Department of Ecosystem and Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
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Rodgers DT, Pineda MA, McGrath MA, Al-Riyami L, Harnett W, Harnett MM. Protection against collagen-induced arthritis in mice afforded by the parasitic worm product, ES-62, is associated with restoration of the levels of interleukin-10-producing B cells and reduced plasma cell infiltration of the joints. Immunology 2014; 141:457-66. [PMID: 24708419 PMCID: PMC3930382 DOI: 10.1111/imm.12208] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2013] [Revised: 10/21/2013] [Accepted: 10/30/2013] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
We have previously reported that ES-62, a molecule secreted by the parasitic filarial nematode Acanthocheilonema viteae, protects mice from developing collagen-induced arthritis (CIA). Together with increasing evidence that worm infection may protect against autoimmune conditions, this raises the possibility that ES-62 may have therapeutic potential in rheumatoid arthritis and hence, it is important to fully understand its mechanism of action. To this end, we have established to date that ES-62 protection in CIA is associated with suppressed T helper type 1 (Th1)/Th17 responses, reduced collagen-specific IgG2a antibodies and increased interleukin-10 (IL-10) production by splenocytes. IL-10-producing regulatory B cells have been proposed to suppress pathogenic Th1/Th17 responses in CIA: interestingly therefore, although the levels of IL-10-producing B cells were decreased in the spleens of mice with CIA, ES-62 was found to restore these to the levels found in naive mice. In addition, exposure to ES-62 decreased effector B-cell, particularly plasma cell, infiltration of the joints, and such infiltrating B cells showed dramatically reduced levels of Toll-like receptor 4 and the activation markers, CD80 and CD86. Collectively, this induction of hyporesponsiveness of effector B-cell responses, in the context of the resetting of the levels of IL-10-producing B cells, is suggestive of a modulation of the balance between effector and regulatory B-cell responses that may contribute to ES-62-mediated suppression of CIA-associated inflammation and inhibition of production of pathogenic collagen-specific IgG2a antibodies.
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Affiliation(s)
- David T Rodgers
- Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
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Cantacessi C, Giacomin P, Croese J, Zakrzewski M, Sotillo J, McCann L, Nolan MJ, Mitreva M, Krause L, Loukas A. Impact of experimental hookworm infection on the human gut microbiota. J Infect Dis 2014; 210:1431-4. [PMID: 24795483 PMCID: PMC4195438 DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jiu256] [Citation(s) in RCA: 102] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
The interactions between gastrointestinal parasitic helminths and commensal bacteria are likely to play a pivotal role in the establishment of host-parasite cross-talk, ultimately shaping the development of the intestinal immune system. However, little information is available on the impact of infections by gastrointestinal helminths on the bacterial communities inhabiting the human gut. We used 16S rRNA gene amplification and pyrosequencing to characterize, for the first time to our knowledge, the differences in composition and relative abundance of fecal microbial communities in human subjects prior to and following experimental infection with the blood-feeding intestinal hookworm, Necator americanus. Our data show that, although hookworm infection leads to a minor increase in microbial species richness, no detectable effect is observed on community structure, diversity or relative abundance of individual bacterial species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cinzia Cantacessi
- Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, Queensland Tropical Health Alliance Laboratory, James Cook University, Cairns
| | - Paul Giacomin
- Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, Queensland Tropical Health Alliance Laboratory, James Cook University, Cairns
| | | | - Martha Zakrzewski
- Bioinformatics Laboratory, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Javier Sotillo
- Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, Queensland Tropical Health Alliance Laboratory, James Cook University, Cairns
| | - Leisa McCann
- Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, Queensland Tropical Health Alliance Laboratory, James Cook University, Cairns
| | - Matthew J Nolan
- Royal Veterinary College, University of London, Hawkshead, United Kingdom
| | - Makedonka Mitreva
- The Genome Institute Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis
| | - Lutz Krause
- Bioinformatics Laboratory, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Alex Loukas
- Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, Queensland Tropical Health Alliance Laboratory, James Cook University, Cairns
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Cantacessi C, Hofmann A, Pickering D, Navarro S, Mitreva M, Loukas A. TIMPs of parasitic helminths - a large-scale analysis of high-throughput sequence datasets. Parasit Vectors 2013; 6:156. [PMID: 23721526 PMCID: PMC3679795 DOI: 10.1186/1756-3305-6-156] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2013] [Accepted: 05/28/2013] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Tissue inhibitors of metalloproteases (TIMPs) are a multifunctional family of proteins that orchestrate extracellular matrix turnover, tissue remodelling and other cellular processes. In parasitic helminths, such as hookworms, TIMPs have been proposed to play key roles in the host-parasite interplay, including invasion of and establishment in the vertebrate animal hosts. Currently, knowledge of helminth TIMPs is limited to a small number of studies on canine hookworms, whereas no information is available on the occurrence of TIMPs in other parasitic helminths causing neglected diseases. METHODS In the present study, we conducted a large-scale investigation of TIMP proteins of a range of neglected human parasites including the hookworm Necator americanus, the roundworm Ascaris suum, the liver flukes Clonorchis sinensis and Opisthorchis viverrini, as well as the schistosome blood flukes. This entailed mining available transcriptomic and/or genomic sequence datasets for the presence of homologues of known TIMPs, predicting secondary structures of defined protein sequences, systematic phylogenetic analyses and assessment of differential expression of genes encoding putative TIMPs in the developmental stages of A. suum, N. americanus and Schistosoma haematobium which infect the mammalian hosts. RESULTS A total of 15 protein sequences with high homology to known eukaryotic TIMPs were predicted from the complement of sequence data available for parasitic helminths and subjected to in-depth bioinformatic analyses. CONCLUSIONS Supported by the availability of gene manipulation technologies such as RNA interference and/or transgenesis, this work provides a basis for future functional explorations of helminth TIMPs and, in particular, of their role/s in fundamental biological pathways linked to long-term establishment in the vertebrate hosts, with a view towards the development of novel approaches for the control of neglected helminthiases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cinzia Cantacessi
- Center for Biodiscovery and Molecular Development of Therapeutics, Queensland Tropical Health Alliance, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
| | - Andreas Hofmann
- Structural Chemistry Program, Eskitis Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Darren Pickering
- Center for Biodiscovery and Molecular Development of Therapeutics, Queensland Tropical Health Alliance, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
| | - Severine Navarro
- Center for Biodiscovery and Molecular Development of Therapeutics, Queensland Tropical Health Alliance, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
| | - Makedonka Mitreva
- The Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Alex Loukas
- Center for Biodiscovery and Molecular Development of Therapeutics, Queensland Tropical Health Alliance, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
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Abstract
Many multicellular parasites seek out hosts by following trails of host-emitted chemicals. Host seeking is a characteristic of endoparasites such as parasitic worms as well as of ectoparasites such as mosquitoes and ticks. For host location, many of these parasites use CO(2), a respiration byproduct, in combination with host-specific chemicals. Recent work has begun to elucidate the behavioral responses of parasites to CO(2) and other host chemicals, and to unravel the mechanisms of these responses. Here we discuss recent findings that have greatly advanced our understanding of the chemosensory behaviors of host-seeking parasites. We focus primarily on well-studied parasites such as nematodes and insects, but also note broadly relevant findings in a few less well studied parasites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Keely E Chaisson
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
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Pojmańska T, Salamatin R, Sulgostowska T, Cielecka D, Okulewicz A, Niewiadomska K, Grytner-Zięcina B. The Polish collection of parasitic helminths (a report on realization of works concerning fusion of parasitic collections dispersed among different scientific institutions). Ann Parasitol 2012; 58:75-86. [PMID: 25165759] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
The paper presents the results of works on preparation of a proper museum collection of parasitic helminths gathered by the Polish scientists and dispersed in various scientific institutions. The collection composed of 11 author's collections and a special collection of available typical series of species described by the Polish authors has been deposited in the Museum of Natural History of Wroclaw University. It includes almost 16.000 slides with 90 taxons of Monogenea, 251 Trematoda, 144 Cestoda, 43 Nematoda, 11 Acanthocephala, in total 486 nominal species and 53 taxons of genus level. Among them 12 species appear new for fauna of Poland; for 57 species new hosts in Polish territory have been recorded; two new species of Cestoda have been described in separate publications. A special paragraph contains a checklist of all species described by the Polish scientists with information whether they are available in any other collection. Detailed information about every deposited slide is given in the Database available online at http://www.helminths.eu .
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Affiliation(s)
- Teresa Pojmańska
- W. Stefański Institute of Parasitology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 51/55 Twarda Street, 00-818 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Rusłan Salamatin
- Department of General Biology and Parasitology, Medical University of Warsaw, 5 Chałubińskiego Street, 02-004 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Teresa Sulgostowska
- Department of Zoology, Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW), 8 Ciszewskiego Street, 02-786 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Danuta Cielecka
- Department of General Biology and Parasitology, Medical University of Warsaw, 5 Chałubińskiego Street, 02-004 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Anna Okulewicz
- Department of Parasitology, Institute of Genetics and Microbiology, University of Wrocław, 63/77 Przybyszewskiego Street, 71-148 Wrocław, Poland
| | - Katarzyna Niewiadomska
- W. Stefański Institute of Parasitology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 51/55 Twarda Street, 00-818 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Barbara Grytner-Zięcina
- Department of General Biology and Parasitology, Medical University of Warsaw, 5 Chałubińskiego Street, 02-004 Warsaw, Poland
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