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Abstract
Advances in the understanding of equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM) are reviewed. It is now apparent that EPM can be caused by either of 2 related protozoan parasites, Sarcocystis neurona and Neospora hughesi, although S neurona is the most common etiologic pathogen. Horses are commonly infected, but clinical disease occurs only infrequently; the factors influencing disease occurrence are not well understood. Epidemiologic studies have identified risk factors for the development of EPM, including the presence of opossums and prior stressful health-related events. Attempts to reproduce EPM experimentally have reliably induced antibody responses in challenged horses, but have not consistently produced neurologic disease. Diagnosis of EPM has improved by detecting intrathecal antibody production against the parasite. Sulfadiazine/pyrimethamine (ReBalance) and the triazine compounds diclazuril (Protazil) and ponazuril (Marquis) are effective anticoccidial drugs that are now available as FDA-approved treatments for EPM.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert J MacKay
- Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, 2015 Southwest 16th Avenue, PO Box 100136, Gainesville, FL 32610-0125, USA
| | - Daniel K Howe
- Department of Veterinary Science, M.H. Gluck Equine Research Center, University of Kentucky, 108 Gluck Equine Research Center, Lexington, KY 40546-0099, USA.
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3
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Murade CU, Chaudhuri S, Nabti I, Fahs H, Refai FSM, Xie X, Pearson YE, Gunsalus KC, Shubeita GT. FRET-Based Probe for High-Throughput DNA Intercalator Drug Discovery and In Vivo Imaging. ACS Sens 2021; 6:2233-2240. [PMID: 34029461 DOI: 10.1021/acssensors.1c00167] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Molecules that bind DNA by intercalating its bases remain among the most potent cancer therapies and antimicrobials due to their interference with DNA-processing proteins. To accelerate the discovery of novel intercalating drugs, we designed a fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based probe that reports on DNA intercalation, allowing rapid and sensitive screening of chemical libraries in a high-throughput format. We demonstrate that the method correctly identifies known DNA intercalators in approved drug libraries and discover previously unreported intercalating compounds. When introduced in cells, the oligonucleotide-based probe rapidly distributes in the nucleus, allowing direct imaging of the dynamics of drug entry and its interaction with DNA in its native environment. This enabled us to directly correlate the potency of intercalators in killing cultured cancer cells with the ability of the drug to penetrate the cell membrane. The combined capability of the single probe to identify intercalators in vitro and follow their function in vivo can play a valuable role in accelerating the discovery of novel DNA-intercalating drugs or repurposing approved ones.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Samata Chaudhuri
- Physics Program, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi 129188, United Arab Emirates
| | - Ibtissem Nabti
- Physics Program, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi 129188, United Arab Emirates
| | - Hala Fahs
- Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi 129188, United Arab Emirates
| | - Fatima S. M. Refai
- Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi 129188, United Arab Emirates
| | - Xin Xie
- Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi 129188, United Arab Emirates
| | - Yanthe E. Pearson
- Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi 129188, United Arab Emirates
| | - Kristin C. Gunsalus
- Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi 129188, United Arab Emirates
- Department of Biology and Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University, New York, New York 10003, United States
| | - George T. Shubeita
- Physics Program, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi 129188, United Arab Emirates
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Dos Santos Nascimento IJ, de Aquino TM, da Silva-Júnior EF. Drug Repurposing: A Strategy for Discovering Inhibitors against Emerging Viral Infections. Curr Med Chem 2021; 28:2887-2942. [PMID: 32787752 DOI: 10.2174/0929867327666200812215852] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2020] [Revised: 07/21/2020] [Accepted: 07/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Viral diseases are responsible for several deaths around the world. Over the past few years, the world has seen several outbreaks caused by viral diseases that, for a long time, seemed to possess no risk. These are diseases that have been forgotten for a long time and, until nowadays, there are no approved drugs or vaccines, leading the pharmaceutical industry and several research groups to run out of time in the search for new pharmacological treatments or prevention methods. In this context, drug repurposing proves to be a fast and economically viable technique, considering the fact that it uses drugs that have a well-established safety profile. Thus, in this review, we present the main advances in drug repurposing and their benefit for searching new treatments against emerging viral diseases. METHODS We conducted a search in the bibliographic databases (Science Direct, Bentham Science, PubMed, Springer, ACS Publisher, Wiley, and NIH's COVID-19 Portfolio) using the keywords "drug repurposing", "emerging viral infections" and each of the diseases reported here (CoV; ZIKV; DENV; CHIKV; EBOV and MARV) as an inclusion/exclusion criterion. A subjective analysis was performed regarding the quality of the works for inclusion in this manuscript. Thus, the selected works were those that presented drugs repositioned against the emerging viral diseases presented here by means of computational, high-throughput screening or phenotype-based strategies, with no time limit and of relevant scientific value. RESULTS 291 papers were selected, 24 of which were CHIKV; 52 for ZIKV; 43 for DENV; 35 for EBOV; 10 for MARV; and 56 for CoV and the rest (72 papers) related to the drugs repurposing and emerging viral diseases. Among CoV-related articles, most were published in 2020 (31 papers), updating the current topic. Besides, between the years 2003 - 2005, 10 articles were created, and from 2011 - 2015, there were 7 articles, portraying the outbreaks that occurred at that time. For ZIKV, similar to CoV, most publications were during the period of outbreaks between the years 2016 - 2017 (23 articles). Similarly, most CHIKV (13 papers) and DENV (14 papers) publications occur at the same time interval. For EBOV (13 papers) and MARV (4 papers), they were between the years 2015 - 2016. Through this review, several drugs were highlighted that can be evolved in vivo and clinical trials as possible used against these pathogens showed that remdesivir represent potential treatments against CoV. Furthermore, ribavirin may also be a potential treatment against CHIKV; sofosbuvir against ZIKV; celgosivir against DENV, and favipiravir against EBOV and MARV, representing new hopes against these pathogens. CONCLUSION The conclusions of this review manuscript show the potential of the drug repurposing strategy in the discovery of new pharmaceutical products, as from this approach, drugs could be used against emerging viral diseases. Thus, this strategy deserves more attention among research groups and is a promising approach to the discovery of new drugs against emerging viral diseases and also other diseases.
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Boromycin Has Potent Anti- Toxoplasma and Anti- Cryptosporidium Activity. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 2021; 65:AAC.01278-20. [PMID: 33468470 DOI: 10.1128/aac.01278-20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2020] [Accepted: 01/05/2021] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Toxoplasma gondii and Cryptosporidium parvum, members of the phylum Apicomplexa, are significant pathogens of both humans and animals worldwide for which new and effective therapeutics are needed. Here, we describe the activity of the antibiotic boromycin against Toxoplasma and Cryptosporidium Boromycin potently inhibited intracellular proliferation of both T. gondii and C. parvum at half-maximal effective concentrations (EC50) of 2.27 nM and 4.99 nM, respectively. Treatment of extracellular T. gondii tachyzoites with 25 nM boromycin for 30 min suppressed 84% of parasite growth, but T. gondii tachyzoite invasion into host cells was not affected by boromycin. Immunofluorescence of boromycin-treated T. gondii showed loss of morphologically intact parasites with randomly distributed surface antigens inside the parasitophorous vacuoles. Boromycin exhibited a high selectivity for the parasites over their host cells. These results suggest that boromycin is a promising new drug candidate for treating toxoplasmosis and cryptosporidiosis.
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O’Connor RM, Nepveux V FJ, Abenoja J, Bowden G, Reis P, Beaushaw J, Bone Relat RM, Driskell I, Gimenez F, Riggs MW, Schaefer DA, Schmidt EW, Lin Z, Distel DL, Clardy J, Ramadhar TR, Allred DR, Fritz HM, Rathod P, Chery L, White J. A symbiotic bacterium of shipworms produces a compound with broad spectrum anti-apicomplexan activity. PLoS Pathog 2020; 16:e1008600. [PMID: 32453775 PMCID: PMC7274485 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1008600] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2020] [Revised: 06/05/2020] [Accepted: 05/05/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Apicomplexan parasites cause severe disease in both humans and their domesticated animals. Since these parasites readily develop drug resistance, development of new, effective drugs to treat infection caused by these parasites is an ongoing challenge for the medical and veterinary communities. We hypothesized that invertebrate-bacterial symbioses might be a rich source of anti-apicomplexan compounds because invertebrates are susceptible to infections with gregarines, parasites that are ancestral to all apicomplexans. We chose to explore the therapeutic potential of shipworm symbiotic bacteria as they are bona fide symbionts, are easily grown in axenic culture and have genomes rich in secondary metabolite loci [1,2]. Two strains of the shipworm symbiotic bacterium, Teredinibacter turnerae, were screened for activity against Toxoplasma gondii and one strain, T7901, exhibited activity against intracellular stages of the parasite. Bioassay-guided fractionation identified tartrolon E (trtE) as the source of the activity. TrtE has an EC50 of 3 nM against T. gondii, acts directly on the parasite itself and kills the parasites after two hours of treatment. TrtE exhibits nanomolar to picomolar level activity against Cryptosporidium, Plasmodium, Babesia, Theileria, and Sarcocystis; parasites representing all branches of the apicomplexan phylogenetic tree. The compound also proved effective against Cryptosporidium parvum infection in neonatal mice, indicating that trtE may be a potential lead compound for preclinical development. Identification of a promising new compound after such limited screening strongly encourages further mining of invertebrate symbionts for new anti-parasitic therapeutics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roberta M. O’Connor
- Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Felix J. Nepveux V
- Division of Geographic Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Jaypee Abenoja
- Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, United States of America
| | - Gregory Bowden
- Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, United States of America
| | - Patricia Reis
- Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, United States of America
| | - Josiah Beaushaw
- Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, United States of America
| | - Rachel M. Bone Relat
- Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, United States of America
| | - Iwona Driskell
- Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, United States of America
| | - Fernanda Gimenez
- Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, United States of America
| | - Michael W. Riggs
- School of Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States of America
| | - Deborah A. Schaefer
- School of Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States of America
| | - Eric W. Schmidt
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
| | - Zhenjian Lin
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
| | - Daniel L. Distel
- Ocean Genome Legacy Center, Northeastern University, Nahant, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Jon Clardy
- Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Timothy R. Ramadhar
- Department of Chemistry, Howard University, Washington DC, United States of America
| | - David R. Allred
- Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine, and Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America
| | - Heather M. Fritz
- California Animal Health and Food Safety Lab, University of California, Davis, California, United States of America
| | - Pradipsinh Rathod
- Department of Chemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Laura Chery
- Department of Chemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - John White
- Department of Chemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
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Regnault C, Dheeman DS, Hochstetter A. Microfluidic Devices for Drug Assays. High Throughput 2018; 7:E18. [PMID: 29925804 PMCID: PMC6023517 DOI: 10.3390/ht7020018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2018] [Revised: 06/07/2018] [Accepted: 06/13/2018] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
In this review, we give an overview of the current state of microfluidic-based high-throughput drug assays. In this highly interdisciplinary research field, various approaches have been applied to high-throughput drug screening, including microtiter plate, droplets microfluidics as well as continuous flow, diffusion and concentration gradients-based microfluidic drug assays. Therefore, we reviewed over 100 recent publications in the field and sorted them according to their microfluidic approach. As a result, we are showcasing, comparing and discussing broadly applied approaches as well as singular promising ones that might contribute to shaping the future of this field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clément Regnault
- Wellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8TA, UK.
| | - Dharmendra S Dheeman
- Wellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8TA, UK.
| | - Axel Hochstetter
- Division of Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8LT, UK.
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