Pravastatin and Simvastatin Pretreatment in Combination with Pyrimethamine and Sulfadiazine Reduces Infection Process of Toxoplasma gondii Tachyzoites (RH Strain) in HeLa Cells

Rosuvastatin enhances alterations caused by Toxoplasma gondii in the duodenum of mice

Infection by Toxoplasma gondii may compromise the intestinal histoarchitecture through the tissue reaction triggered by the parasite. Thus, this study evaluated whether treatment with rosuvastatin modifies duodenal changes caused by the chronic infection induced by cysts of T. gondii. For this, female Swiss mice were distributed into infected and treated group (ITG), infected group (IG), group treated with 40 mg/kg rosuvastatin (TG) and control group (CG). After 72 days of infection, the animals were euthanized, the duodenum was collected and processed for histopathological analysis. We observed an increase in immune cell infiltration in the IG, TG and ITG groups, with injury to the Brunner glands. The infection led to a reduction in collagen fibers and mast cells. Infected and treated animals showed an increase in collagen fibers, acidic mucin-producing goblet cells, intraepithelial lymphocytes and mast cells, in addition to the reduction of muscle, neutral mucin-producing and Paneth cells. While treatment with rosuvastatin alone led to increased muscle layer, proportion of neutral mucin-producing goblet cells, Paneth cells, and reduction of collagen fibers. These findings indicate that the infection and treatment caused changes in the homeostasis of the intestinal wall and treatment with rosuvastatin potentiated most parameters indicative of inflammation.

Statin and aspirin use in parasitic infections as a potential therapeutic strategy: A narrative review

Infections, including zoonoses, constitute a threat to human health due to the spread of resistant pathogens. These diseases generate an inflammatory response controlled by a resolving mechanism involving specialized membrane lipid-derived molecules called lipoxins, resolvins, maresins, and protectins. The production of some of these molecules can be triggered by aspirin or statins. Thus, it is proposed that modulation of the host response could be a useful therapeutic strategy, contributing to the management of resistance to antiparasitic agents or preventing drift to chronic, host-damaging courses. Therefore, the present work presents the state of the art on the use of statins or aspirin for the experimental management of parasitic infections such as Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, toxoplasmosis or malaria. The methodology used was a narrative review covering original articles from the last seven years, 38 of which met the inclusion criteria. Based on the publications consulted, modulation of the resolution of inflammation using statins may be feasible as an adjuvant in the therapy of parasitic diseases. However, there was no strong experimental evidence on the use of aspirin; therefore, further studies are needed to evaluate its role inflammation resolution process in infectious diseases.

Pyrimethamine induces phototoxicity in human keratinocytes via lysosomal and mitochondrial dependent signaling pathways under environmental UVA and UVB exposure

Pyrimethamine (PYR) is used to treat parasitic infections including toxoplasmosis, pneumonia and cystoisosporiasis in HIV patients. Various oral medicines have shown phototoxicity therefore, we aimed to study the phototoxicity of PYR and its molecular mechanism involving stress responsive lysosomal protein Lamp2 and mitochondrial mediated signaling pathway under normal UVA/B exposure. We found that photodegradation and subsequent photoproduct formation was evident through LCMS/MS analysis. Photosensitized PYR produces ROS that cause damage to DNA, cell membrane and membrane bound organelles in human keratinocytes. PYR triggered cytotoxicity and phototoxicity that was evident through MTT and NRU assay respectively. Intracellular ROS generation caused phosphatidyl serine (PS) translocation in cell membrane, lysosome membrane permeabilization (LMP) and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) collapse that was further validated through caspase3 activation. DNA damage was measured as tail DNA formation and cell cycle arrest in G1 phase. Photosensitized PYR induces oxidative stress in the form of overexpression of Lamp2 that ultimately led to cellular apoptosis. Moreover, the effects of UVB were higher than UVA, probably due to its direct interaction with various macromolecules. We propose that photoexcited PYR may be harmful to human health even at normal sunlight exposure. Therefore, protective procedures should be practiced during PYR medication.

Modulation of autophagy as a therapeutic strategy for Toxoplasma gondii infection

Toxoplasma gondii infection is a severe health threat that endangers billions of people worldwide. T. gondii utilizes the host cell membrane to form a parasitophorous vacuole (PV), thereby fully isolating itself from the host cell cytoplasm and making intracellular clearance difficult. PV can be targeted and destroyed by autophagy. Autophagic targeting results in T. gondii killing via the fusion of autophagosomes and lysosomes. However, T. gondii has developed many strategies to suppress autophagic targeting. Accordingly, the interplay between host cell autophagy and T. gondii is an emerging area with important practical implications. By promoting the canonical autophagy pathway or attenuating the suppression of autophagic targeting, autophagy can be effectively utilized in the development of novel therapeutic strategies against T gondii. Here, we have illustrated the complex interplay between host cell mediated autophagy and T. gondii. Different strategies to promote autophagy in order to target the parasite have been elucidated. Besides, we have analyzed some potential new drug molecules from the DrugBank database using bioinformatics tools, which can modulate autophagy. Various challenges and opportunities focusing autophagy mediated T. gondii clearance have been discussed, which will provide new insights for the development of novel drugs against the parasite.

Impact of Toxoplasma gondii infection on TM3 Leydig cells: Alterations in testosterone and cytokines levels

Leydig cells play pivotal roles in eliciting male characteristics by producing testosterone and any damage to these cells can compromise male fertility Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is an intracellular parasite capable to invade any nucleated cell, including cells from male reproductive system. Herein, we evaluated the capacity of RH strain of T. gondii to infect TM3 Leydig cells and the impact of this infection on testosterone and inflammatory mediators production. We first, by performing adherence, infection, and intracellular proliferation assays, we found a significant increase in the number of infected Leydig cells, peaking 48 h after the infection with T. gondii. Supernatants of TM3 infected cells exhibited, in a time-dependent manner, increased levels of testosterone as well as monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ), which is correlated with the robust T. gondii infection. In conclusion, our study provides new insights regarding the harmful effects of T. gondii infection on male reproductive system.