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Abugri J, Ayariga J, Sunwiale SS, Wezena CA, Gyamfi JA, Adu-Frimpong M, Agongo G, Dongdem JT, Abugri D, Dinko B. Targeting the Plasmodium falciparum proteome and organelles for potential antimalarial drug candidates. Heliyon 2022; 8:e10390. [PMID: 36033316 PMCID: PMC9398786 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e10390] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2021] [Revised: 01/12/2022] [Accepted: 08/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
There is an unmet need to unearth alternative treatment options for malaria, wherein this quest is more pressing in recent times due to high morbidity and mortality data arising mostly from the endemic countries coupled with partial diversion of attention from the disease in view of the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic. Available therapeutic options for malaria have been severely threatened with the emergence of resistance to almost all the antimalarial drugs by the Plasmodium falciparum parasite in humans, which is a worrying situation. Artemisinin combination therapies (ACT) that have so far been the mainstay of malaria have encountered resistance by malaria parasite in South East Asia, which is regarded as a notorious ground zero for the emergence of resistance to antimalarial drugs. This review analyzes a few key druggable targets for the parasite and the potential of specific inhibitors to mitigate the emerging antimalarial drug resistance problem by providing a concise assessment of the essential proteins of the malaria parasite that could serve as targets. Moreover, this work provides a summary of the advances made in malaria parasite biology and the potential to leverage these findings for antimalarial drug production.
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Affiliation(s)
- James Abugri
- Department of Biochemistry and Forensic Sciences, School of Chemical and Biochemical Sciences, C. K. Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences (CKT-UTAS), Navrongo, Ghana
| | - Joseph Ayariga
- The Biomedical Engineering Programme, Alabama State University, Montgomery, AL, 36104, USA
| | - Samuel Sunyazi Sunwiale
- Department of Biochemistry and Forensic Sciences, School of Chemical and Biochemical Sciences, C. K. Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences (CKT-UTAS), Navrongo, Ghana
| | - Cletus Adiyaga Wezena
- Department of Microbiology, School of Biosciences, University for Development Studies (UDS), Nyankpala Campus, Tamale, Ghana
| | - Julien Agyemang Gyamfi
- Department of Biochemistry and Forensic Sciences, School of Chemical and Biochemical Sciences, C. K. Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences (CKT-UTAS), Navrongo, Ghana
| | - Michael Adu-Frimpong
- Department of Biochemistry and Forensic Sciences, School of Chemical and Biochemical Sciences, C. K. Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences (CKT-UTAS), Navrongo, Ghana
| | - Godfred Agongo
- Department of Biochemistry and Forensic Sciences, School of Chemical and Biochemical Sciences, C. K. Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences (CKT-UTAS), Navrongo, Ghana
| | - Julius Tieroyaare Dongdem
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine. School of Medicine. University for Development Studies (UDS), Tamale-Campus, Ghana
| | - Daniel Abugri
- Department of Biological Sciences, Microbiology PhD Programme, Laboratory of Ethnomedicine, Parasitology, and Drug Discovery, College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, Alabama State University, Montgomery, USA
| | - Bismarck Dinko
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, School of Basic and Biomedical Sciences, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho. Ghana
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Zheng X, Zhang J, Lu C, Zhuang Y, Zhang X. Rational Design of Peptide Inhibitor Against Amyloidogenesis-Correlated Membrane Disruption by Merozoite Surface Protein 2. Int J Pept Res Ther 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s10989-021-10198-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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Beg AZ, Khan AU. Motifs and interface amino acid-mediated regulation of amyloid biogenesis in microbes to humans: potential targets for intervention. Biophys Rev 2020; 12:1249-1256. [PMID: 32930961 DOI: 10.1007/s12551-020-00759-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2020] [Accepted: 09/04/2020] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Amyloids are linked to many debilitating diseases in mammals. Some organisms produce amyloids that have a functional role in the maintenance of their biological processes. Microbes utilize functional bacterial amyloids (FuBA) for pathogenicity and infections. Amyloid biogenesis is regulated differentially in various systems to avoid its toxic accumulation. A familiar feature in the process of amyloid biogenesis from humans to microbes is its regulation by protein-protein interactions (PPI). The spatial arrangement of amino acid residues in proteins generates topologies like flat interface and linear motif, which participate in protein interactions. Motifs and interface residue-mediated interactions have a direct or an indirect impact on amyloid secretion and assembly. Some motifs undergo post-translational modifications (PTM), which effects interactions and dynamics of the amyloid biogenesis cascade. Interaction-induced local changes stimulate global conformational transitions in the PPI complex, which indirectly affects amyloid formation. Perturbation of such motifs and interface residues results in amyloid abolishment. Interface residues, motifs and their respective interactive protein partners could serve as potential targets for intervention to inhibit amyloid biogenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ayesha Z Beg
- Medical Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Interdisciplinary Biotechnology Unit, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, 202002, India
| | - Asad U Khan
- Medical Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Interdisciplinary Biotechnology Unit, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, 202002, India.
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Detection of Protein Aggregation in Live Plasmodium Parasites. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 2020; 64:AAC.02135-19. [PMID: 32284383 DOI: 10.1128/aac.02135-19] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2019] [Accepted: 04/06/2020] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
The rapid evolution of resistance in the malaria parasite to every single drug developed against it calls for the urgent identification of new molecular targets. Using a stain specific for the detection of intracellular amyloid deposits in live cells, we have detected the presence of abundant protein aggregates in Plasmodium falciparum blood stages and female gametes cultured in vitro, in the blood stages of mice infected by Plasmodium yoelii, and in the mosquito stages of the murine malaria species Plasmodium berghei Aggregated proteins could not be detected in early rings, the parasite form that starts the intraerythrocytic cycle. A proteomics approach was used to pinpoint actual aggregating polypeptides in functional P. falciparum blood stages, which resulted in the identification of 369 proteins, with roles particularly enriched in nuclear import-related processes. Five aggregation-prone short peptides selected from this protein pool exhibited different aggregation propensity according to Thioflavin-T fluorescence measurements, and were observed to form amorphous aggregates and amyloid fibrils in transmission electron microscope images. The results presented suggest that generalized protein aggregation might have a functional role in malaria parasites. Future antimalarial strategies based on the upsetting of the pathogen's proteostasis and therefore affecting multiple gene products could represent the entry to new therapeutic approaches.
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Eacret JS, Gonzales DM, Franks RG, Burns JM. Immunization with merozoite surface protein 2 fused to a Plasmodium-specific carrier protein elicits strain-specific and strain-transcending, opsonizing antibody. Sci Rep 2019; 9:9022. [PMID: 31227760 PMCID: PMC6588637 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-45440-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2018] [Accepted: 06/06/2019] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Vaccine trials and cohort studies in Plasmodium falciparum endemic areas indicate that naturally-acquired and vaccine-induced antibodies to merozoite surface protein 2 (MSP2) are associated with resistance to malaria. These data indicate that PfMSP2 has significant potential as a component of a multi-antigen malaria vaccine. To overcome challenges encountered with subunit malaria vaccines, we established that the use of highly immunogenic rPfMSP8 as a carrier protein for leading vaccine candidates rPfMSP119 and rPfs25 facilitated antigen production, minimized antigenic competition and enhanced induction of functional antibodies. We applied this strategy to optimize a rPfMSP2 (3D7)-based subunit vaccine by producing unfused rPfMSP2 or chimeric rPfMSP2/8 in Escherichia coli. rPfMSP2 formed fibrils, which induced splenocyte proliferation in an antigen receptor-independent, TLR2-dependent manner. However, fusion to rPfMSP8 prevented rPfMSP2 amyloid-like fibril formation. Immunization of rabbits elicited high-titer anti-PfMSP2 antibodies that recognized rPfMSP2 of the 3D7 and FC27 alleles, as well as native PfMSP2. Competition assays revealed a difference in the specificity of antibodies induced by the two rPfMSP2-based vaccines, with evidence of epitope masking by rPfMSP2-associated fibrils. Rabbit anti-PfMSP2/8 was superior to rPfMSP2-elicited antibody at opsonizing P. falciparum merozoites for phagocytosis. These data establish rPfMSP8 as an effective carrier for a PfMSP2-based subunit malaria vaccine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacqueline S Eacret
- Center for Molecular Parasitology, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Drexel University College of Medicine, 2900 Queen Lane, Philadelphia, PA, 19129, USA
| | - Donna M Gonzales
- Center for Molecular Parasitology, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Drexel University College of Medicine, 2900 Queen Lane, Philadelphia, PA, 19129, USA
| | - Raymond G Franks
- Center for Molecular Parasitology, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Drexel University College of Medicine, 2900 Queen Lane, Philadelphia, PA, 19129, USA
| | - James M Burns
- Center for Molecular Parasitology, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Drexel University College of Medicine, 2900 Queen Lane, Philadelphia, PA, 19129, USA.
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Shanmugam N, Baker MODG, Ball SR, Steain M, Pham CLL, Sunde M. Microbial functional amyloids serve diverse purposes for structure, adhesion and defence. Biophys Rev 2019; 11:287-302. [PMID: 31049855 PMCID: PMC6557962 DOI: 10.1007/s12551-019-00526-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2019] [Accepted: 04/15/2019] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The functional amyloid state of proteins has in recent years garnered much attention for its role in serving crucial and diverse biological roles. Amyloid is a protein fold characterised by fibrillar morphology, binding of the amyloid-specific dyes Thioflavin T and Congo Red, insolubility and underlying cross-β structure. Amyloids were initially characterised as an aberrant protein fold associated with mammalian disease. However, in the last two decades, functional amyloids have been described in almost all biological systems, from viruses, to bacteria and archaea, to humans. Understanding the structure and role of these amyloids elucidates novel and potentially ancient mechanisms of protein function throughout nature. Many of these microbial functional amyloids are utilised by pathogens for invasion and maintenance of infection. As such, they offer novel avenues for therapies. This review examines the structure and mechanism of known microbial functional amyloids, with a particular focus on the pathogenicity conferred by the production of these structures and the strategies utilised by microbes to interfere with host amyloid structures. The biological importance of microbial amyloid assemblies is highlighted by their ubiquity and diverse functionality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nirukshan Shanmugam
- Discipline of Pharmacology, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health and Sydney Nano, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia
| | - Max O D G Baker
- Discipline of Pharmacology, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health and Sydney Nano, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia
| | - Sarah R Ball
- Discipline of Pharmacology, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health and Sydney Nano, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia
| | - Megan Steain
- Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Central Clinical School, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia
| | - Chi L L Pham
- Discipline of Pharmacology, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health and Sydney Nano, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia
| | - Margaret Sunde
- Discipline of Pharmacology, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health and Sydney Nano, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia.
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