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Yarlett N, Morada M, Schaefer DA, Ackman K, Carranza E, Baptista RDP, Riggs MW, Kissinger JC. Genomic and virulence analysis of in vitro cultured Cryptosporidium parvum. PLoS Pathog 2024; 20:e1011992. [PMID: 38416794 PMCID: PMC10927135 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1011992] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2023] [Revised: 03/11/2024] [Accepted: 01/22/2024] [Indexed: 03/01/2024] Open
Abstract
Recent advances in the in vitro cultivation of Cryptosporidium parvum using hollow fiber bioreactor technology (HFB) have permitted continuous growth of parasites that complete all life cycle stages. The method provides access to all stages of the parasite and provides a method for non-animal production of oocysts for use in clinical trials. Here we examined the effect of long-term (>20 months) in vitro culture on virulence-factors, genome conservation, and in vivo pathogenicity of the host by in vitro cultured parasites. We find low-level sequence variation that is consistent with that observed in calf-passaged parasites. Further using a calf model infection, oocysts obtained from the HFB caused diarrhea of the same volume, duration and oocyst shedding intensity as in vivo passaged parasites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nigel Yarlett
- Department of Chemistry and Physical Sciences, Pace University, New York, New York, United States of America
- Haskins Laboratories, Pace University, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Mary Morada
- Haskins Laboratories, Pace University, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Deborah A. Schaefer
- School of Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States of America
| | - Kevin Ackman
- School of Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States of America
| | - Elizabeth Carranza
- School of Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States of America
| | - Rodrigo de Paula Baptista
- Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America
- Institute of Bioinformatics, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Michael W. Riggs
- School of Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States of America
| | - Jessica C. Kissinger
- Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America
- Institute of Bioinformatics, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America
- Department of Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America
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Ali M, Xu C, Nawaz S, Ahmed AE, Hina Q, Li K. Anti-Cryptosporidial Drug-Discovery Challenges and Existing Therapeutic Avenues: A "One-Health" Concern. Life (Basel) 2024; 14:80. [PMID: 38255695 PMCID: PMC10820218 DOI: 10.3390/life14010080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2023] [Revised: 12/20/2023] [Accepted: 12/28/2023] [Indexed: 01/24/2024] Open
Abstract
Cryptosporidiosis is the leading cause of life-threatening diarrheal infection, especially in infants. Oocysts contaminate the environment, and also, being a zoonotic disease, cryptosporidiosis is a threat to One Health. Nitazoxanide is the only FDA-approved drug, effective only in immunocompetent adults, and is not safe for infants. The absence of mitochondria and apicoplast, the presence of an electron-dense band (ED band), hindrances in its genetic and phenotypic manipulations, and its unique position inside the host cell are some challenges to the anti-cryptosporidial drug-discovery process. However, many compounds, including herbal products, have shown efficacy against Cryptosporidium during in vitro and in vivo trials. Still, the "drug of choice" against this protozoan parasite, especially in immunocompromised individuals and infants, has not yet been explored. The One-Health approach addresses this issue, focusing on the intersection of animal, human, and environmental health. The objective of this review is to provide knowledge about novel anti-cryptosporidial drug targets, available treatment options with associated limitations, and possible future shifts toward natural products to treat cryptosporidiosis. The current review is organized to address the treatment and prevention of cryptosporidiosis. An anti-cryptosporidial drug that is effective in immunocompromised individuals and infants is a necessity of our time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Munwar Ali
- Institute of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China; (M.A.); (C.X.)
- MOE Joint International Research Laboratory of Animal Health and Food Safety, College of Veterinary Medicine, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
| | - Chang Xu
- Institute of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China; (M.A.); (C.X.)
- MOE Joint International Research Laboratory of Animal Health and Food Safety, College of Veterinary Medicine, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
| | - Shah Nawaz
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China;
| | - Ahmed Ezzat Ahmed
- Biology Department, College of Science, King Khalid University, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia;
| | - Qazal Hina
- Department of Animal Nutrition, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore 54000, Pakistan;
| | - Kun Li
- Institute of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China; (M.A.); (C.X.)
- MOE Joint International Research Laboratory of Animal Health and Food Safety, College of Veterinary Medicine, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
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Fenwick M, Reers AR, Liu Y, Zigweid R, Sankaran B, Shin J, Hulverson MA, Hammerson B, Fernández Álvaro E, Myler PJ, Kaushansky A, Van Voorhis WC, Fan E, Staker BL. Identification of and Structural Insights into Hit Compounds Targeting N-Myristoyltransferase for Cryptosporidium Drug Development. ACS Infect Dis 2023; 9:1821-1833. [PMID: 37722671 PMCID: PMC10580320 DOI: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.3c00151] [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: 03/29/2023] [Indexed: 09/20/2023]
Abstract
Each year, approximately 50,000 children under 5 die as a result of diarrhea caused by Cryptosporidium parvum, a protozoan parasite. There are currently no effective drugs or vaccines available to cure or prevent Cryptosporidium infection, and there are limited tools for identifying and validating targets for drug or vaccine development. We previously reported a high throughput screening (HTS) of a large compound library against Plasmodium N-myristoyltransferase (NMT), a validated drug target in multiple protozoan parasite species. To identify molecules that could be effective against Cryptosporidium, we counter-screened hits from the Plasmodium NMT HTS against Cryptosporidium NMT. We identified two potential hit compounds and validated them against CpNMT to determine if NMT might be an attractive drug target also for Cryptosporidium. We tested the compounds against Cryptosporidium using both cell-based and NMT enzymatic assays. We then determined the crystal structure of CpNMT bound to Myristoyl-Coenzyme A (MyrCoA) and structures of ternary complexes with MyrCoA and the hit compounds to identify the ligand binding modes. The binding site architectures display different conformational states in the presence of the two inhibitors and provide a basis for rational design of selective inhibitors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael
K. Fenwick
- Seattle
Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease (SSGCID), Seattle, Washington 98109, United States
| | - Alexandra R. Reers
- Seattle
Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease (SSGCID), Seattle, Washington 98109, United States
- Center
for Global Infectious Disease Research, Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Seattle, Washington 98109, United States
| | - Yi Liu
- Department
of Biochemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, United States
| | - Rachael Zigweid
- Seattle
Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease (SSGCID), Seattle, Washington 98109, United States
- Center
for Global Infectious Disease Research, Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Seattle, Washington 98109, United States
| | - Banumathi Sankaran
- Berkeley
Center for Structural Biology, Advanced Light Source, Berkeley National
Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
| | - Janis Shin
- Seattle
Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease (SSGCID), Seattle, Washington 98109, United States
- Center
for Global Infectious Disease Research, Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Seattle, Washington 98109, United States
| | - Matthew A. Hulverson
- Center
for Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases, Division of Allergy
and Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98109, United States
| | - Bradley Hammerson
- Seattle
Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease (SSGCID), Seattle, Washington 98109, United States
- Center
for Global Infectious Disease Research, Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Seattle, Washington 98109, United States
| | | | - Peter J. Myler
- Seattle
Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease (SSGCID), Seattle, Washington 98109, United States
- Center
for Global Infectious Disease Research, Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Seattle, Washington 98109, United States
- Department
of Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, United States
- Department
of Pediatrics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, United States
| | - Alexis Kaushansky
- Center
for Global Infectious Disease Research, Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Seattle, Washington 98109, United States
- Center
for Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases, Division of Allergy
and Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98109, United States
- Department
of Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, United States
| | - Wesley C. Van Voorhis
- Seattle
Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease (SSGCID), Seattle, Washington 98109, United States
- Center
for Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases, Division of Allergy
and Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98109, United States
| | - Erkang Fan
- Department
of Biochemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, United States
| | - Bart L. Staker
- Seattle
Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease (SSGCID), Seattle, Washington 98109, United States
- Center
for Global Infectious Disease Research, Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Seattle, Washington 98109, United States
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Gilbert IH, Vinayak S, Striepen B, Manjunatha UH, Khalil IA, Van Voorhis WC. Safe and effective treatments are needed for cryptosporidiosis, a truly neglected tropical disease. BMJ Glob Health 2023; 8:e012540. [PMID: 37541693 PMCID: PMC10407372 DOI: 10.1136/bmjgh-2023-012540] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2023] [Accepted: 06/25/2023] [Indexed: 08/06/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
| | - Sumiti Vinayak
- Department of Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA
| | - Boris Striepen
- Department of Pathobiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Ujjini H Manjunatha
- Global Health, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Inc, Emeryville, California, USA
| | - Ibrahim A Khalil
- Department of Health, State of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
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Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors Display Potent Activity against Cryptosporidium parvum. Microbiol Spectr 2023; 11:e0387422. [PMID: 36533912 PMCID: PMC9927415 DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.03874-22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The protozoan parasite Cryptosporidium is a leading cause of diarrheal disease (cryptosporidiosis) and death in young children. Cryptosporidiosis can be life-threatening in individuals with weak immunity such as HIV/AIDS patients and organ transplant recipients. There is currently no effective drug to treat cryptosporidiosis in the pediatric and immunocompromised population. Therefore, there is an urgent need to expedite the drug discovery process in order to develop new and effective therapies to reduce the global disease burden of cryptosporidiosis. In this study, we employed a drug repurposing strategy to screen a library of 473 human kinase inhibitors to determine their activity against Cryptosporidium parvum. We have identified 67 new anti-cryptosporidial compounds using phenotypic screening based on a transgenic C. parvum strain expressing a luciferase reporter. Further, dose-response assays led to the identification of 11 hit compounds that showed potent inhibition of C. parvum at nanomolar concentration. Kinome profiling of these 11 prioritized hits identified compounds that displayed selectivity in targeting specific families of kinases, particularly tyrosine kinases. Overall, this study identified tyrosine kinase inhibitors that hold potential for future development as new drug candidates against cryptosporidiosis. IMPORTANCE The intestinal parasite Cryptosporidium parvum is a major cause of diarrhea-associated morbidity and mortality in children, immunocompromised people, and young ruminant animals. With no effective drug available to treat cryptosporidiosis in humans and animals, there is an urgent need to identify anti-parasitic compounds and new targets for drug development. To address this unmet need, we screened a GSK library of kinase inhibitors and identified several potent compounds, including tyrosine kinase inhibitors, that were highly effective in killing C. parvum. Overall, our study revealed several novel compounds and a new family of kinases that can be targeted for anti-cryptosporidial drug development.
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Caravedo MA, White AC. Treatment of cryptosporidiosis: nitazoxanide yes, but we can do better. Expert Rev Anti Infect Ther 2023; 21:167-173. [PMID: 36533398 DOI: 10.1080/14787210.2023.2160704] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Cryptosporidiosis was initially recognized as an important cause of diarrhea in AIDS patients. It has been underdiagnosed in other populations. Recent studies have highlighted the importance of Cryptosporidium as a cause of diarrhea and malnutrition in young children in resource-poor countries and an emerging pathogen in organ-transplant recipients. AREAS COVERED Nitazoxanide is FDA approved for treatment of cryptosporidiosis in immunocompetent people. However, it is less effective in HIV and transplant patients and malnourished children. In transplant recipients, there is emerging data on antiparasitic combinations for cryptosporidiosis, including combinations of nitazoxanide, azithromycin, and in one case rifaximin. High-throughput phenotypic screens have identified some potential treatments. Among them, clofazimine was no better than placebo in a trial in AIDS patients. There have also been efforts to develop drug versus specific parasite targets. However, in part due to safety issues, none of these compounds have advanced into clinical trials. EXPERT OPINION Development of new and more efficacious therapies for cryptosporidium is imperative. Current approve therapy is far from optimal and lacks efficacy in high-risk populations, such as, patients living with HIV. Additionally, there is limited data on patients with other types of immunosuppression (Transplanted, autoimmune conditions, etc).
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria A Caravedo
- Infectious Disease Division Department of Internal Medicine University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, USA
| | - A Clinton White
- Infectious Disease Division Department of Internal Medicine University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, USA
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The Marine Compound Tartrolon E Targets the Asexual and Early Sexual Stages of Cryptosporidium parvum. Microorganisms 2022; 10:microorganisms10112260. [PMID: 36422330 PMCID: PMC9693555 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms10112260] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2022] [Revised: 11/08/2022] [Accepted: 11/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
New therapeutic agents for cryptosporidiosis are a critical medical need. The marine organic compound, tartrolon E (trtE), is highly effective against multiple apicomplexan parasites, including Cryptosporidium. Understanding the mechanism of action of trtE is required to advance in the drug development pipeline. Here, we validate using Nluc C. parvum parasites for the study of trtE and pinpoint the life stage targeted by trtE. Results show that trtE kills Nluc and wild type C. parvum with equal efficiency, confirming the use of the Nluc C. parvum to study this compound. Results revealed that trtE kills the parasite within an hour of treatment and while the compound has no effect on viability of sporozoites, trtE does inhibit establishment of infection. Targeting treatment at particular life cycle stages demonstrated that trtE is effective against asexual of the parasite but has reduced efficacy against mature sexual stages. Gene expression analysis shows that trtE inhibits the early sexual stage of the parasite. Results from these studies will aid the development of trtE as a therapeutic for cryptosporidiosis.
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Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW Substantial progress has been made recently on the development of new therapeutics for cryptosporidiosis, an infection by the protozoan parasite Cryptosporidium that is associated with diarrhea, malnutrition, growth stunting, cognitive deficits, and oral vaccine failure in children living in low-resource settings. RECENT FINDINGS Various drug discovery approaches have generated promising lead candidates. The repurposed antimycobacterial drug clofazimine was tested in Malawian HIV patients with cryptosporidiosis but was ineffective. Target-based screens identified inhibitors of lysyl-tRNA synthetase, phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase, methionyl-tRNA synthetase, and calcium-dependent protein kinase 1. Phenotypic screens led to discovery of a phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase inhibitor, the piperazine MMV665917, and the benzoxaborole AN7973. The relationship between pharmacokinetic properties and in-vivo efficacy is gradually emerging. A pathway to clinical trials, regulatory approval, and introduction has been proposed but additional work is needed to strengthen the route. SUMMARY Several lead compounds with potent activity in animal models and a favorable safety profile have been identified. A sustained effort will be required to advance at least one to clinical proof-of-concept studies. The demonstrated risk of resistance indicates multiple candidates should be advanced as potential components of a combination therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melissa S. Love
- Calibr, a division of The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, USA
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