The role of mannose in the receptor of the monocyte locomotion inhibitory factor produced by Entamoeba histolytica

The monocyte locomotion inhibitory factor inhibits the expression of inflammation-induced cytokines following experimental contusion in rat tibia

Entamoeba histolityca produces the monocyte locomotion inhibitory factor (MLIF), a pentapeptide with powerful anti-inflammatory properties. MLIF may regulate trauma-induced inflammation through the effects it exerts directly or indirectly on immune cells, modulating the production and/or expression of the cytokines involved in the inflammatory processes that occur after damage. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of MLIF on production of pro/anti-inflammatory cytokines after contusion in the rat tibia. Fifty-four Wistar rats were subjected to controlled contusion with a special guillotine-type device, and 36 rats were injected with MLIF or tenoxicam into the tibia. Eighteen animals received saline; the animals were sacrificed 24 or 48 hours after injection. Cytokine mRNA and protein production were determined by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), immunofluorescence, and hematoxylin-eosin staining was performed to visualize cellular infiltration in the rats' injured tissue. Expression levels of the cytokines interferon gamma (IFN-γ), tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) mRNA were inhibited significantly by MLIF at 24 hours post-contusion. MLIF significantly increased the expression levels of IL-10 at 24 hours compared with tenoxicam or the control group. These changes were associated with a significant decrease in protein production levels of TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-6 and TGF-β at 24 hours. Histological evaluation showed the presence of infiltration by neutrophils, monocytes and leucocytes in control tissues. This infiltration was decreased after MLIF administration, and intense infiltration was observed in tenoxicam-treated group. MLIF inhibited the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and increased the expression of anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10.

Anti-inflammatory defense mechanisms of Entamoeba histolytica

The monocyte locomotion inhibitory factor (MLIF), a heat-stable oligopeptide found in the supernatant fluid of Entamoeba histolytica axenic cultures, may contribute to the delayed inflammation observed in amoebic hepatic abscess. This factor was isolated by ultra-filtration and high powered liquid chromatography, obtaining a primary Met-Gln-Cys-Asn-Ser structure, identified afterwards as the carboxyl-terminal (…Cys-Asn-Ser) active site. The selective anti-inflammatory effects of the pentapeptide have been observed in both in vitro and in vivo models, using a synthetic pentapeptide to maintain the same anti-inflammatory conditions during the experimental assays. Anti-inflammatory effects observed include inhibition of human monocyte locomotion and the respiratory burst in monocytes and neutrophils, increasing expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines and inhibiting expression of the adhesion molecules VLA-4 and VCAM, among others. In this review, we will describe the effects of MLIF detected so far and how it might be used as a therapeutical agent against inflammatory diseases.

Recent discoveries in the pathogenesis and immune response toward Entamoeba histolytica

Entamoeba histolytica is an enteric dwelling human protozoan parasite that causes the disease amoebiasis, which is endemic in the developing world. Over the past four decades, considerable effort has been made to understand the parasite and the disease. Improved diagnostics can now differentiate pathogenic E. histolytica from that of the related but nonpathogenic Entamoeba dispar, thus minimizing screening errors. Classically, the triad of Gal-lectin, cysteine proteinases and amoebapores of the parasite were thought to be the major proteins involved in the pathogenesis of amoebiasis. However, other amoebic molecules such as lipophosphopeptidoglycan, perioxiredoxin, arginase, and lysine and glutamic acid-rich proteins are also implicated. Recently, the genome of E. histolytica has been sequenced, which has widened our scope to study additional virulence factors. E. histolytica genome-based approaches have now confirmed the presence of Golgi apparatus-like vesicles and the machinery for glycosylation, thus improving the chances of identifying potential drug targets for chemotherapeutic intervention. Apart from Gal-lectin-based vaccines, promising vaccine targets such as serine-rich E. histolytica protein have yielded encouraging results. Considerable efforts have also been made to skew vaccination responses towards appropriate T-helper cell immunity that could augment the efficacy of vaccine candidates under study. Thus, ongoing efforts mining the information made available with the sequencing of the E. histolytica genome will no doubt identify and characterize other important potential vaccine/drug targets and lead to effective immunologic strategies for the control of amoebiasis.

An anti-inflammatory oligopeptide produced by Entamoeba histolytica down-regulates the expression of pro-inflammatory chemokines

Axenically grown Entamoeba histolytica produces a pentapeptide (Met-Gln-Cys-Asn-Ser) with anti-inflammatory properties that, among others, inhibits the in vitro and in vivo locomotion of human monocytes, sparing polymorphonuclear leucocytes from this effect [hence the name originally given. Monocyte Locomotion Inhibitory Factor (MLIF)]. A synthetic construct of this peptide displays the same effects as the native material. We now added MLIF to resting and PMA-stimulated cells of a human monocyte cell line and measured the effect upon mRNA and protein expression of pro-inflammatory chemokines (RANTES, IP-10, MIP-1alpha, MIP-1beta, MCP-1, IL-8, I-309 and lymphotactin) and the shared CC receptor repertoire. The constitutive expression of these chemokines and the CC receptors was unaffected, whereas induced expression of MIP-1alpha, MIP-1beta, and I-309, and that of the CCR1 receptor--all involved in monocyte chemotaxis--was significantly inhibited by MLIF. This suggests that the inhibition of monocyte functions by MLIF may not only be exerted directly on these cells, but also--and perhaps foremost--through a conglomerate down-regulation of endogenous pro-inflammatory chemokines.

A novel anti-inflammatory oligopeptide produced by Entamoeba histolytica

The monocyte locomotion inhibitory factor (MLIF), a heat-stable oligopeptide found in the supernatant fluid of Entamoeba histolytica axenic cultures was isolated by ultra-filtration, gel-sieve chromatography and high powered liquid chromatography (HPLC), and its primary structure (Met-Gln-Cys-Asn-Ser) established by Edman sequencing and mass-spectrometry (MS). A synthetic peptide had the same selective anti-inflammatory features as the native material in comparable concentrations: in vitro inhibition of the locomotion in human peripheral blood monocytes, and of the respiratory burst in the same cells and in human neutrophil polymorphonuclear leucocytes; and in vivo depression of delayed hypersensitivity skin reactions to dinitrochlorobenzene in guinea pigs. This oligopeptide is apparently synthesized by the ameba as suggested by [(35)S]-Cys and Met incorporation, probably as part of a larger molecule, from which it is cleaved by proteolysis. The full sequence was not found in the 431 available E. histolytica protein sequences. The factor may contribute to the unexpected paucity of the late inflammatory reaction found in advanced invasive amebiasis and, perhaps in consequence, to the regeneration without scarring (restitutio ad integrum) of the affected organs that is observed following successful treatment of this disease

Cyclic nucleotide changes induced in human leukocytes by a product of axenically grown Entamoeba histolytica that inhibits human monocyte locomotion

Pulse exposure of human mononuclear phagocytes to the monocyte locomotion-inhibitory factor produced by Entamoeba histolytica (i.e., the 369- to 765-Da chromatographic fraction obtained from the supernatant fluid of axenically grown E. histolytica) led to a swift increase in the intracellular concentration of adenosine 3':5' cyclic monophosphate (cAMP). A weaker response was observed in human polymorphonuclear leukocytes, the locomotion of which, however, is not inhibited by this amebic factor. The same chromatographic fraction obtained from the axenic medium control lacked this effect, at least upon mononuclear phagocytes. On the other hand, both the monocyte locomotion-inhibitory factor and the axenic medium control, possibly through shared cultured medium components, induced comparable increases in guanosine 3':5' cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) in human mononuclear phagocytes and in polymorphonuclear leukocytes, thus suggesting that the latter-nucleotide is not critical for the leukotactic inhibitory phenomenon. Our results suggest that like other leukotactic inhibitors, the monocyte locomotion-inhibitory factor produced by E. histolytica operates through modulations of intracellular cAMP.