1
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B Henry N, Soulama I, S Sermé S, Bolscher JM, T G Huijs T, S Coulibaly A, Sombié S, Ouédraogo N, Diarra A, Zongo S, Guelbéogo WM, Nébié I, Sirima SB, Tiono AB, Pietro A, Collins KA, Dechering KJ, Bousema T. Assessment of the transmission blocking activity of antimalarial compounds by membrane feeding assays using natural Plasmodium falciparum gametocyte isolates from West-Africa. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0284751. [PMID: 37494413 PMCID: PMC10370769 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0284751] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2022] [Accepted: 04/07/2023] [Indexed: 07/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Antimalarial drugs that can block the transmission of Plasmodium gametocytes to mosquito vectors would be highly beneficial for malaria elimination efforts. Identifying transmission-blocking drugs currently relies on evaluation of their activity against gametocyte-producing laboratory parasite strains and would benefit from a testing pipeline with genetically diverse field isolates. The aims of this study were to develop a pipeline to test drugs against P. falciparum gametocyte field isolates and to evaluate the transmission-blocking activity of a set of novel compounds. Two assays were designed so they could identify both the overall transmission-blocking activity of a number of marketed and experimental drugs by direct membrane feeding assays (DMFA), and then also discriminate between those that are active against the gametocytes (gametocyte killing or sterilizing) or those that block development in the mosquito (sporontocidal). These DMFA assays used venous blood samples from naturally infected Plasmodium falciparum gametocyte carriers and locally reared Anopheles gambiae s.s. mosquitoes. Overall transmission-blocking activity was assessed following a 24 hour incubation of compound with gametocyte infected blood (TB-DMFA). Sporontocidal activity was evaluated following addition of compound directly prior to feeding, without incubation (SPORO-DMFA); Gametocyte viability was retained during 24-hour incubation at 37°C when gametocyte infected red blood cells were reconstituted in RPMI/serum. Methylene-blue, MMV693183, DDD107498, atovaquone and P218 showed potent transmission-blocking activity in the TB-DMFA, and both atovaquone and the novel antifolate P218 were potent inhibitors of sporogonic development in the SPORO-DMA. This work establishes a pipeline for the integral use of field isolates to assess the transmission-blocking capacity of antimalarial drugs to block transmission that should be validated in future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noëlie B Henry
- Groupe de Recherche Action en Santé, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
- Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | - Issiaka Soulama
- Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
- Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé (IRSS)/CNRST, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | - Samuel S Sermé
- Groupe de Recherche Action en Santé, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
- Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | | | | | - Aboubacar S Coulibaly
- Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | - Salif Sombié
- Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | - Nicolas Ouédraogo
- Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | - Amidou Diarra
- Groupe de Recherche Action en Santé, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
- Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | - Soumanaba Zongo
- Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | - Wamdaogo M Guelbéogo
- Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | - Issa Nébié
- Groupe de Recherche Action en Santé, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | | | - Alfred B Tiono
- Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | - Alano Pietro
- Dipartimento di Malattie Infettive, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Roma, Italy
| | - Katharine A Collins
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, Netherland
| | | | - Teun Bousema
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, Netherland
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2
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Miyazaki Y, Vos MW, Geurten FJA, Bigeard P, Kroeze H, Yoshioka S, Arisawa M, Inaoka DK, Soulard V, Dechering KJ, Franke-Fayard B, Miyazaki S. A versatile Plasmodium falciparum reporter line expressing NanoLuc enables highly sensitive multi-stage drug assays. Commun Biol 2023; 6:713. [PMID: 37438491 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-05078-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2022] [Accepted: 06/27/2023] [Indexed: 07/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Transgenic luciferase-expressing Plasmodium falciparum parasites have been widely used for the evaluation of anti-malarial compounds. Here, to screen for anti-malarial drugs effective against multiple stages of the parasite, we generate a P. falciparum reporter parasite that constitutively expresses NanoLuciferase (NanoLuc) throughout its whole life cycle. The NanoLuc-expressing P. falciparum reporter parasite shows a quantitative NanoLuc signal in the asexual blood, gametocyte, mosquito, and liver stages. We also establish assay systems to evaluate the anti-malarial activity of compounds at the asexual blood, gametocyte, and liver stages, and then determine the 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) value of several anti-malarial compounds. Through the development of this robust high-throughput screening system, we identify an anti-malarial compound that kills the asexual blood stage parasites. Our study highlights the utility of the NanoLuc reporter line, which may advance anti-malarial drug development through the improved screening of compounds targeting the human malarial parasite at multiple stages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yukiko Miyazaki
- Department of Molecular Infection Dynamics, Institute of Tropical Medicine (NEKKEN), Nagasaki University, 852-8523, Nagasaki, Japan.
- Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands.
- Department of Protozoology, Institute of Tropical Medicine (NEKKEN), Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan.
| | - Martijn W Vos
- TropIQ Health Sciences, Transistorweg 5, 6534 AT, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Fiona J A Geurten
- Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Pierre Bigeard
- Sorbonne Université, Inserm, CNRS, Centre d'Immunologie et des Maladies Infectieuses, CIMI-Paris, F-75013, Paris, France
| | - Hans Kroeze
- Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Shohei Yoshioka
- Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University, 565-0871, Osaka, Japan
| | - Mitsuhiro Arisawa
- Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University, 565-0871, Osaka, Japan
| | - Daniel Ken Inaoka
- Department of Molecular Infection Dynamics, Institute of Tropical Medicine (NEKKEN), Nagasaki University, 852-8523, Nagasaki, Japan
- School of Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, 852-8523, Japan
- Department of Biomedical Chemistry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan
| | - Valerie Soulard
- Sorbonne Université, Inserm, CNRS, Centre d'Immunologie et des Maladies Infectieuses, CIMI-Paris, F-75013, Paris, France
| | - Koen J Dechering
- TropIQ Health Sciences, Transistorweg 5, 6534 AT, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Blandine Franke-Fayard
- Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Shinya Miyazaki
- Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands.
- Department of Cellular Architecture Studies, Institute of Tropical Medicine (NEKKEN), Nagasaki University, 852-8523, Nagasaki, Japan.
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3
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Miglianico M, Bolscher JM, Vos MW, Koolen KJM, de Bruijni M, Rajagopal DS, Chen E, Kiczun M, Gray D, Campo B, Sauerwein RW, Dechering KJ. Assessment of the drugability of initial malaria infection through miniaturized sporozoite assays and high-throughput screening. Commun Biol 2023; 6:216. [PMID: 36823266 PMCID: PMC9950425 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-04599-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2022] [Accepted: 02/15/2023] [Indexed: 02/25/2023] Open
Abstract
The sporozoite stages of malaria parasites are the primary cause of infection of the vertebrate host and are targeted by (experimental) vaccines. Yet, little is known about their susceptibility to chemical intervention. Phenotypic high-throughput screens have not been feasible due to a lack of in vitro systems. Here we tested 78 marketed and experimental antimalarial compounds in miniaturized assays addressing sporozoite viability, gliding motility, hepatocyte traversal, and intrahepatocytic schizogony. None potently interfered with sporozoite viability or motility but ten compounds acted at the level of schizogony with IC50s < 100 nM. To identify compounds directly targeting sporozoites, we screened 81,000 compounds from the Global Health Diversity and reFRAME libraries in a sporozoite viability assay using a parasite expressing a luciferase reporter driven by the circumsporozoite promoter. The ionophore gramicidin emerged as the single hit from this screening campaign. Its effect on sporozoite viability translated into reduced gliding motility and an inability of sporozoites to invade human primary hepatocytes and develop into hepatic schizonts. While providing proof of concept for a small molecule sporontocidal mode of action, our combined data indicate that liver schizogony is more accessible to chemical intervention by (candidate) antimalarials.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Emily Chen
- Calibr, a division of The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, United States of America
| | - Michael Kiczun
- Drug Discovery Unit, University of Dundee, Dundee, United Kingdom
| | - David Gray
- Drug Discovery Unit, University of Dundee, Dundee, United Kingdom
| | - Brice Campo
- Medicines for Malaria Venture, Geneva, Switzerland
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4
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Fabra-García A, Hailemariam S, de Jong RM, Janssen K, Teelen K, van de Vegte-Bolmer M, van Gemert GJ, Ivanochko D, Semesi A, McLeod B, Vos MW, de Bruijni MHC, Bolscher JM, Szabat M, Vogt S, Kraft L, Duncan S, Kamya MR, Feeney ME, Jagannathan P, Greenhouse B, Dechering KJ, Sauerwein RW, King CR, MacGill RS, Bousema T, Julien JP, Jore MM. Highly potent, naturally acquired human monoclonal antibodies against Pfs48/45 block Plasmodium falciparum transmission to mosquitoes. Immunity 2023; 56:406-419.e7. [PMID: 36792574 PMCID: PMC9942873 DOI: 10.1016/j.immuni.2023.01.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2022] [Revised: 11/05/2022] [Accepted: 01/11/2023] [Indexed: 02/16/2023]
Abstract
Malaria transmission-blocking vaccines (TBVs) aim to induce antibodies that interrupt malaria parasite development in the mosquito, thereby blocking onward transmission, and provide a much-needed tool for malaria control and elimination. The parasite surface protein Pfs48/45 is a leading TBV candidate. Here, we isolated and characterized a panel of 81 human Pfs48/45-specific monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) from donors naturally exposed to Plasmodium parasites. Genetically diverse mAbs against each of the three domains (D1-D3) of Pfs48/45 were identified. The most potent mAbs targeted D1 and D3 and achieved >80% transmission-reducing activity in standard membrane-feeding assays, at 10 and 2 μg/mL, respectively. Co-crystal structures of D3 in complex with four different mAbs delineated two conserved protective epitopes. Altogether, these Pfs48/45-specific human mAbs provide important insight into protective and non-protective epitopes that can further our understanding of transmission and inform the design of refined malaria transmission-blocking vaccine candidates.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sophia Hailemariam
- Program in Molecular Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Roos M de Jong
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboudumc, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Kirsten Janssen
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboudumc, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Karina Teelen
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboudumc, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | | | | | - Danton Ivanochko
- Program in Molecular Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Anthony Semesi
- Program in Molecular Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Brandon McLeod
- Program in Molecular Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Lucas Kraft
- AbCellera Biologics Inc., Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | | | - Moses R Kamya
- Infectious Disease Research Collaboration, Kampala, Uganda
| | - Margaret E Feeney
- Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Prasanna Jagannathan
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Bryan Greenhouse
- Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | | | | | - C Richter King
- PATH's Malaria Vaccine Initiative, Washington, DC 20001, USA
| | | | - Teun Bousema
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboudumc, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
| | - Jean-Philippe Julien
- Program in Molecular Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Immunology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
| | - Matthijs M Jore
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboudumc, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
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5
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Dechering KJ, Timmerman M, Rensen K, Koolen KMJ, Honarnejad S, Vos MW, Huijs T, Henderson RWM, Chenu E, Laleu B, Montefiore BC, Segall MD, Mills JEJ, Guantai EM, Duffy J, Duffey M. Replenishing the malaria drug discovery pipeline: Screening and hit evaluation of the MMV Hit Generation Library 1 (HGL1) against asexual blood stage Plasmodium falciparum, using a nano luciferase reporter read-out. SLAS Discov 2022; 27:337-348. [PMID: 35872229 DOI: 10.1016/j.slasd.2022.07.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2022] [Accepted: 07/18/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
A central challenge of antimalarial therapy is the emergence of resistance to the components of artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) and the urgent need for new drugs acting through novel mechanism of action. Over the last decade, compounds identified in phenotypic high throughput screens (HTS) have provided the starting point for six candidate drugs currently in the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) clinical development portfolio. However, the published screening data which provided much of the new chemical matter for malaria drug discovery projects have been extensively mined. Here we present a new screening and selection cascade for generation of hit compounds active against the blood stage of Plasmodium falciparum. In addition, we validate our approach by testing a library of 141,786 compounds not reported earlier as being tested against malaria. The Hit Generation Library 1 (HGL1) was designed to maximise the chemical diversity and novelty of compounds with physicochemical properties associated with potential for further development. A robust HTS cascade containing orthogonal efficacy and cytotoxicity assays, including a newly developed and validated nanoluciferase-based assay was used to profile the compounds. 75 compounds (Screening Active hit rate of 0.05%) were identified meeting our stringent selection criteria of potency in drug sensitive (NF54) and drug resistant (Dd2) parasite strains (IC50 ≤ 2 µM), rapid speed of action and cell viability in HepG2 cells (IC50 ≥ 10 µM). Following further profiling, 33 compounds were identified that meet the MMV Confirmed Active profile and are high quality starting points for new antimalarial drug discovery projects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Koen J Dechering
- TropIQ Health Sciences, Transistorweg 5, 6534 AT Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | | | - Kim Rensen
- Pivot Park Screening Centre, Oss, North Brabant, The Netherlands
| | - Karin M J Koolen
- TropIQ Health Sciences, Transistorweg 5, 6534 AT Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Saman Honarnejad
- Pivot Park Screening Centre, Oss, North Brabant, The Netherlands
| | - Martijn W Vos
- TropIQ Health Sciences, Transistorweg 5, 6534 AT Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Tonnie Huijs
- TropIQ Health Sciences, Transistorweg 5, 6534 AT Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Rob W M Henderson
- TropIQ Health Sciences, Transistorweg 5, 6534 AT Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Elodie Chenu
- Medicines for Malaria Venture, Route de Pré-Bois 20, PO Box 1826, 1215 Geneva 15, Switzerland
| | - Benoît Laleu
- Medicines for Malaria Venture, Route de Pré-Bois 20, PO Box 1826, 1215 Geneva 15, Switzerland
| | - Bailey C Montefiore
- Optibrium, F5-6 Blenheim House, Cambridge Innovation Park, Denny End Road, Cambridge CB25 9PB, United Kingdom
| | - Matthew D Segall
- Optibrium, F5-6 Blenheim House, Cambridge Innovation Park, Denny End Road, Cambridge CB25 9PB, United Kingdom
| | - James E J Mills
- Sandexis Medicinal Chemistry Ltd, Innovation House, Discovery Park, Sandwich, CT13 9FF, United Kingdom
| | - Eric M Guantai
- Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Nairobi, 00202, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - James Duffy
- Medicines for Malaria Venture, Route de Pré-Bois 20, PO Box 1826, 1215 Geneva 15, Switzerland
| | - Maëlle Duffey
- Medicines for Malaria Venture, Route de Pré-Bois 20, PO Box 1826, 1215 Geneva 15, Switzerland.
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6
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de Vries LE, Jansen PAM, Barcelo C, Munro J, Verhoef JMJ, Pasaje CFA, Rubiano K, Striepen J, Abla N, Berning L, Bolscher JM, Demarta-Gatsi C, Henderson RWM, Huijs T, Koolen KMJ, Tumwebaze PK, Yeo T, Aguiar ACC, Angulo-Barturen I, Churchyard A, Baum J, Fernández BC, Fuchs A, Gamo FJ, Guido RVC, Jiménez-Diaz MB, Pereira DB, Rochford R, Roesch C, Sanz LM, Trevitt G, Witkowski B, Wittlin S, Cooper RA, Rosenthal PJ, Sauerwein RW, Schalkwijk J, Hermkens PHH, Bonnert RV, Campo B, Fidock DA, Llinás M, Niles JC, Kooij TWA, Dechering KJ. Preclinical characterization and target validation of the antimalarial pantothenamide MMV693183. Nat Commun 2022; 13:2158. [PMID: 35444200 PMCID: PMC9021288 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29688-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2021] [Accepted: 03/09/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Drug resistance and a dire lack of transmission-blocking antimalarials hamper malaria elimination. Here, we present the pantothenamide MMV693183 as a first-in-class acetyl-CoA synthetase (AcAS) inhibitor to enter preclinical development. Our studies demonstrate attractive drug-like properties and in vivo efficacy in a humanized mouse model of Plasmodium falciparum infection. The compound shows single digit nanomolar in vitro activity against P. falciparum and P. vivax clinical isolates, and potently blocks P. falciparum transmission to Anopheles mosquitoes. Genetic and biochemical studies identify AcAS as the target of the MMV693183-derived antimetabolite, CoA-MMV693183. Pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic modelling predict that a single 30 mg oral dose is sufficient to cure a malaria infection in humans. Toxicology studies in rats indicate a > 30-fold safety margin in relation to the predicted human efficacious exposure. In conclusion, MMV693183 represents a promising candidate for further (pre)clinical development with a novel mode of action for treatment of malaria and blocking transmission. Here, de Vries et al. perform a pre-clinical characterization of the antimalarial compound MMV693183: the compound targets acetyl-CoA synthetase, has efficacy in humanized mice against Plasmodium falciparum infection, blocks transmission to mosquito vectors, is safe in rats, and pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic modeling informs about a potential oral human dosing regimen.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura E de Vries
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboudumc Center for Infectious Diseases, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Patrick A M Jansen
- Department of Dermatology, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | | | - Justin Munro
- Department of Chemistry and Huck Center for Malaria Research, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| | - Julie M J Verhoef
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboudumc Center for Infectious Diseases, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | | | - Kelly Rubiano
- Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Josefine Striepen
- Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Nada Abla
- Medicines for Malaria Venture, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Luuk Berning
- TropIQ Health Sciences, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | | | | | | | - Tonnie Huijs
- TropIQ Health Sciences, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | | | | | - Tomas Yeo
- Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Anna C C Aguiar
- Sao Carlos Institute of Physics, University of São Paulo, São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil, São Carlos, SP, Brazil
| | | | - Alisje Churchyard
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, South Kensington, London, United Kingdom
| | - Jake Baum
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, South Kensington, London, United Kingdom
| | | | - Aline Fuchs
- Medicines for Malaria Venture, Geneva, Switzerland
| | | | - Rafael V C Guido
- Sao Carlos Institute of Physics, University of São Paulo, São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil, São Carlos, SP, Brazil
| | | | - Dhelio B Pereira
- Research Center for Tropical Medicine of Rondonia, Porto Velho, Brazil
| | - Rosemary Rochford
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA
| | - Camille Roesch
- Malaria Molecular Epidemiology Unit, Institut Pasteur du Cambodge, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.,Malaria Translational Research Unit, Institut Pasteur, Paris & Institut Pasteur du Cambodge, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
| | - Laura M Sanz
- Global Health, GlaxoSmithKline, Tres Cantos, Madrid, Spain
| | | | - Benoit Witkowski
- Malaria Molecular Epidemiology Unit, Institut Pasteur du Cambodge, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.,Malaria Translational Research Unit, Institut Pasteur, Paris & Institut Pasteur du Cambodge, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
| | - Sergio Wittlin
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland.,University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Roland A Cooper
- Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Dominican University of California, San Rafael, CA, USA
| | - Philip J Rosenthal
- Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Robert W Sauerwein
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboudumc Center for Infectious Diseases, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,TropIQ Health Sciences, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Joost Schalkwijk
- Department of Dermatology, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | | | | | - Brice Campo
- Medicines for Malaria Venture, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - David A Fidock
- Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.,Center for Malaria Therapeutics and Antimicrobial Resistance, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Manuel Llinás
- Department of Chemistry and Huck Center for Malaria Research, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.,Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| | - Jacquin C Niles
- Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Taco W A Kooij
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboudumc Center for Infectious Diseases, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
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7
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Siciliano G, Di Paolo V, Rotili D, Migale R, Pedini F, Casella M, Camerini S, Dalzoppo D, Henderson R, Huijs T, Dechering KJ, Mai A, Caccuri AM, Lalle M, Quintieri L, Alano P. The Nitrobenzoxadiazole Derivative NBDHEX Behaves as Plasmodium falciparum Gametocyte Selective Inhibitor with Malaria Parasite Transmission Blocking Activity. Pharmaceuticals (Basel) 2022; 15:ph15020168. [PMID: 35215282 PMCID: PMC8875241 DOI: 10.3390/ph15020168] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2021] [Revised: 01/22/2022] [Accepted: 01/27/2022] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
This work describes the activity of 6-((7-nitrobenzo[c][1,2,5]oxadiazol-4-yl)thio)hexan-1-ol (NBDHEX) and of its newly identified carboxylic acid metabolite on the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. NBDHEX has been previously identified as a potent cytotoxic agent against murine and human cancer cells as well as towards the protozoan parasite Giardia duodenalis. We show here that NBDHEX is active in vitro against all blood stages of P. falciparum, with the rare feature of killing the parasite stages transmissible to mosquitoes, the gametocytes, with a 4-fold higher potency than that on the pathogenic asexual stages. This activity importantly translates into blocking parasite transmission through the Anopheles vector in mosquito experimental infections. A mass spectrometry analysis identified covalent NBDHEX modifications in specific cysteine residues of five gametocyte proteins, possibly associated with its antiparasitic effect. The carboxylic acid metabolite of NBDHEX retains the gametocyte preferential inhibitory activity of the parent compound, making this novel P. falciparum transmission-blocking chemotype at least as a new tool to uncover biological processes targetable by gametocyte selective drugs. Both NBDHEX and its carboxylic acid metabolite show very limited in vitro cytotoxicity on VERO cells. This result and previous evidence that NBDHEX shows an excellent in vivo safety profile in mice and is orally active against human cancer xenografts make these molecules potential starting points to develop new P. falciparum transmission-blocking agents, enriching the repertoire of drugs needed to eliminate malaria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Siciliano
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 00161 Rome, Italy; (G.S.); (R.M.)
| | - Veronica Di Paolo
- Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, Italy; (V.D.P.); (D.D.)
| | - Dante Rotili
- Department of Chemistry and Technology of Drugs, “Sapienza” University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy; (D.R.); (A.M.)
| | - Rossella Migale
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 00161 Rome, Italy; (G.S.); (R.M.)
| | - Francesca Pedini
- Department of Oncology and Molecular Medicine, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 00161 Rome, Italy;
| | - Marialuisa Casella
- Core Facilities, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 00161 Rome, Italy; (M.C.); (S.C.)
| | - Serena Camerini
- Core Facilities, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 00161 Rome, Italy; (M.C.); (S.C.)
| | - Daniele Dalzoppo
- Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, Italy; (V.D.P.); (D.D.)
| | - Rob Henderson
- TropIQ Health Sciences, 6534 AT Nijmegen, The Netherlands; (R.H.); (T.H.); (K.J.D.)
| | - Tonnie Huijs
- TropIQ Health Sciences, 6534 AT Nijmegen, The Netherlands; (R.H.); (T.H.); (K.J.D.)
| | - Koen J. Dechering
- TropIQ Health Sciences, 6534 AT Nijmegen, The Netherlands; (R.H.); (T.H.); (K.J.D.)
| | - Antonello Mai
- Department of Chemistry and Technology of Drugs, “Sapienza” University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy; (D.R.); (A.M.)
| | - Anna Maria Caccuri
- Department of Chemical Sciences and Technologies, University of Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy;
| | - Marco Lalle
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 00161 Rome, Italy; (G.S.); (R.M.)
- Correspondence: (M.L.); (L.Q.); (P.A.)
| | - Luigi Quintieri
- Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, Italy; (V.D.P.); (D.D.)
- Correspondence: (M.L.); (L.Q.); (P.A.)
| | - Pietro Alano
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 00161 Rome, Italy; (G.S.); (R.M.)
- Correspondence: (M.L.); (L.Q.); (P.A.)
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8
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Sturm A, Vos MW, Henderson R, Eldering M, Koolen KMJ, Sheshachalam A, Favia G, Samby K, Herreros E, Dechering KJ. Barcoded Asaia bacteria enable mosquito in vivo screens and identify novel systemic insecticides and inhibitors of malaria transmission. PLoS Biol 2021; 19:e3001426. [PMID: 34928952 PMCID: PMC8726507 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001426] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2021] [Revised: 01/04/2022] [Accepted: 12/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
This work addresses the need for new chemical matter in product development for control of pest insects and vector-borne diseases. We present a barcoding strategy that enables phenotypic screens of blood-feeding insects against small molecules in microtiter plate-based arrays and apply this to discovery of novel systemic insecticides and compounds that block malaria parasite development in the mosquito vector. Encoding of the blood meals was achieved through recombinant DNA-tagged Asaia bacteria that successfully colonised Aedes and Anopheles mosquitoes. An arrayed screen of a collection of pesticides showed that chemical classes of avermectins, phenylpyrazoles, and neonicotinoids were enriched for compounds with systemic adulticide activity against Anopheles. Using a luminescent Plasmodium falciparum reporter strain, barcoded screens identified 48 drug-like transmission-blocking compounds from a 400-compound antimicrobial library. The approach significantly increases the throughput in phenotypic screening campaigns using adult insects and identifies novel candidate small molecules for disease control. This study presents a barcoding strategy that enables high-throughput phenotypic screens of blood-feeding insects against small molecules in microtiter plate-based arrays and applies this to the discovery of novel systemic insecticides and compounds that block malaria parasite development in the mosquito vector.
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9
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Forte B, Ottilie S, Plater A, Campo B, Dechering KJ, Gamo FJ, Goldberg DE, Istvan ES, Lee M, Lukens AK, McNamara CW, Niles JC, Okombo J, Pasaje CFA, Siegel MG, Wirth D, Wyllie S, Fidock DA, Baragaña B, Winzeler EA, Gilbert IH. Prioritization of Molecular Targets for Antimalarial Drug Discovery. ACS Infect Dis 2021; 7:2764-2776. [PMID: 34523908 PMCID: PMC8608365 DOI: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.1c00322] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
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There is a shift
in antimalarial drug discovery from phenotypic
screening toward target-based approaches, as more potential drug targets
are being validated in Plasmodium species. Given
the high attrition rate and high cost of drug discovery, it is important
to select the targets most likely to deliver progressible drug candidates.
In this paper, we describe the criteria that we consider important
for selecting targets for antimalarial drug discovery. We describe
the analysis of a number of drug targets in the Malaria Drug Accelerator
(MalDA) pipeline, which has allowed us to prioritize targets that
are ready to enter the drug discovery process. This selection process
has also highlighted where additional data are required to inform
target progression or deprioritization of other targets. Finally,
we comment on how additional drug targets may be identified.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barbara Forte
- Wellcome Centre for Anti-Infectives Research, Division of Biological Chemistry and Drug Discovery, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 5EH, United Kingdom
| | - Sabine Ottilie
- Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
| | - Andrew Plater
- Wellcome Centre for Anti-Infectives Research, Division of Biological Chemistry and Drug Discovery, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 5EH, United Kingdom
| | - Brice Campo
- Medicines for Malaria Venture, 1215 Geneva, Switzerland
| | | | | | - Daniel E. Goldberg
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine and Department of Molecular Microbiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, United States
| | - Eva S. Istvan
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine and Department of Molecular Microbiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, United States
| | - Marcus Lee
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, CB10 1SA, United Kingdom
| | - Amanda K. Lukens
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States
| | - Case W. McNamara
- Calibr, a Division of The Scripps Research Institute, 11119 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, California 92037, United States
| | - Jacquin C. Niles
- Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge Massachusetts 02139-4307, United States
| | - John Okombo
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York 10032, United States
| | - Charisse Flerida A. Pasaje
- Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge Massachusetts 02139-4307, United States
| | | | - Dyann Wirth
- Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States
| | - Susan Wyllie
- Wellcome Centre for Anti-Infectives Research, Division of Biological Chemistry and Drug Discovery, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 5EH, United Kingdom
| | - David A. Fidock
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York 10032, United States
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York 10032, United States
| | - Beatriz Baragaña
- Wellcome Centre for Anti-Infectives Research, Division of Biological Chemistry and Drug Discovery, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 5EH, United Kingdom
| | - Elizabeth A. Winzeler
- Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
| | - Ian H. Gilbert
- Wellcome Centre for Anti-Infectives Research, Division of Biological Chemistry and Drug Discovery, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 5EH, United Kingdom
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10
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Laleu B, Akao Y, Ochida A, Duffy S, Lucantoni L, Shackleford DM, Chen G, Katneni K, Chiu FCK, White KL, Chen X, Sturm A, Dechering KJ, Crespo B, Sanz LM, Wang B, Wittlin S, Charman SA, Avery VM, Cho N, Kamaura M. Discovery and Structure-Activity Relationships of Quinazolinone-2-carboxamide Derivatives as Novel Orally Efficacious Antimalarials. J Med Chem 2021; 64:12582-12602. [PMID: 34437804 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c00441] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
A phenotypic high-throughput screen allowed discovery of quinazolinone-2-carboxamide derivatives as a novel antimalarial scaffold. Structure-activity relationship studies led to identification of a potent inhibitor 19f, 95-fold more potent than the original hit compound, active against laboratory-resistant strains of malaria. Profiling of 19f suggested a fast in vitro killing profile. In vivo activity in a murine model of human malaria in a dose-dependent manner constitutes a concomitant benefit.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benoît Laleu
- Medicines for Malaria Venture, ICC, Route de Pré-Bois 20, 1215 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Yuichiro Akao
- Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, 26-1, Muraoka-Higashi 2-chome, Fujisawa, Kanagawa 251-8555, Japan
| | - Atsuko Ochida
- Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, 26-1, Muraoka-Higashi 2-chome, Fujisawa, Kanagawa 251-8555, Japan
| | - Sandra Duffy
- Discovery Biology, Griffith University, Brisbane Innovation Park, Don Young Road, Nathan 4111, Queensland, Australia
| | - Leonardo Lucantoni
- Discovery Biology, Griffith University, Brisbane Innovation Park, Don Young Road, Nathan 4111, Queensland, Australia
| | - David M Shackleford
- Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, 381 Royal Parade, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia
| | - Gong Chen
- Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, 381 Royal Parade, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia
| | - Kasiram Katneni
- Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, 381 Royal Parade, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia
| | - Francis C K Chiu
- Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, 381 Royal Parade, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia
| | - Karen L White
- Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, 381 Royal Parade, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia
| | - Xue Chen
- WuXi AppTec (Wuhan) Company Ltd., 666 Gaoxin Avenue, Donghu New Technology Development Area, Wuhan 430075, China
| | - Angelika Sturm
- TropIQ Health Sciences, Transistorweg 5-C02, 6534 AT Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Koen J Dechering
- TropIQ Health Sciences, Transistorweg 5-C02, 6534 AT Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Benigno Crespo
- Global Health, GlaxoSmithKline R&D, Tres Cantos, 28760, Madrid, Spain
| | - Laura M Sanz
- Global Health, GlaxoSmithKline R&D, Tres Cantos, 28760, Madrid, Spain
| | - Binglin Wang
- WuXi AppTec (Wuhan) Company Ltd., 666 Gaoxin Avenue, Donghu New Technology Development Area, Wuhan 430075, China
| | - Sergio Wittlin
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstrasse 57, 4002 Basel, Switzerland.,University of Basel, 4002 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Susan A Charman
- Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, 381 Royal Parade, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia
| | - Vicky M Avery
- Discovery Biology, Griffith University, Brisbane Innovation Park, Don Young Road, Nathan 4111, Queensland, Australia
| | - Nobuo Cho
- Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, 26-1, Muraoka-Higashi 2-chome, Fujisawa, Kanagawa 251-8555, Japan
| | - Masahiro Kamaura
- Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, 26-1, Muraoka-Higashi 2-chome, Fujisawa, Kanagawa 251-8555, Japan
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11
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Okaniwa M, Shibata A, Ochida A, Akao Y, White KL, Shackleford DM, Duffy S, Lucantoni L, Dey S, Striepen J, Yeo T, Mok S, Aguiar ACC, Sturm A, Crespo B, Sanz LM, Churchyard A, Baum J, Pereira DB, Guido RVC, Dechering KJ, Wittlin S, Uhlemann AC, Fidock DA, Niles JC, Avery VM, Charman SA, Laleu B. Repositioning and Characterization of 1-(Pyridin-4-yl)pyrrolidin-2-one Derivatives as Plasmodium Cytoplasmic Prolyl-tRNA Synthetase Inhibitors. ACS Infect Dis 2021; 7:1680-1689. [PMID: 33929818 PMCID: PMC8204304 DOI: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.1c00020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
![]()
Prolyl-tRNA synthetase
(PRS) is a clinically validated antimalarial
target. Screening of a set of PRS ATP-site binders, initially designed
for human indications, led to identification of 1-(pyridin-4-yl)pyrrolidin-2-one
derivatives representing a novel antimalarial scaffold. Evidence designates
cytoplasmic PRS as the drug target. The frontrunner 1 and its active enantiomer 1-S exhibited low-double-digit nanomolar activity against resistant Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) laboratory strains
and development of liver schizonts. No cross-resistance with strains
resistant to other known antimalarials was noted. In addition, a similar
level of growth inhibition was observed against clinical field isolates
of Pf and P. vivax. The slow killing
profile and the relative high propensity to develop resistance in vitro (minimum inoculum resistance of 8 × 105 parasites at a selection pressure of 3 × IC50) constitute unfavorable features for treatment of malaria. However,
potent blood stage and antischizontal activity are compelling for
causal prophylaxis which does not require fast onset of action. Achieving
sufficient on-target selectivity appears to be particularly challenging
and should be the primary focus during the next steps of optimization
of this chemical series. Encouraging preliminary off-target profile
and oral efficacy in a humanized murine model of Pf malaria allowed us to conclude that 1-(pyridin-4-yl)pyrrolidin-2-one
derivatives represent a promising starting point for the identification
of novel antimalarial prophylactic agents that selectively target Plasmodium PRS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Masanori Okaniwa
- Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, 26-1, Muraoka-Higashi 2-chome, Fujisawa, Kanagawa 251-8555, Japan
| | - Akira Shibata
- Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, 26-1, Muraoka-Higashi 2-chome, Fujisawa, Kanagawa 251-8555, Japan
| | - Atsuko Ochida
- Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, 26-1, Muraoka-Higashi 2-chome, Fujisawa, Kanagawa 251-8555, Japan
| | - Yuichiro Akao
- Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, 26-1, Muraoka-Higashi 2-chome, Fujisawa, Kanagawa 251-8555, Japan
| | - Karen L. White
- Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, 381 Royal Parade, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia
| | - David M. Shackleford
- Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, 381 Royal Parade, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia
| | - Sandra Duffy
- Discovery Biology, Griffith University, Brisbane Innovation Park, Don Young Road, Nathan, Queensland 4111, Australia
| | - Leonardo Lucantoni
- Discovery Biology, Griffith University, Brisbane Innovation Park, Don Young Road, Nathan, Queensland 4111, Australia
| | - Sumanta Dey
- Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
| | - Josefine Striepen
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York 10032, United States
| | - Tomas Yeo
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York 10032, United States
| | - Sachel Mok
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York 10032, United States
| | - Anna Caroline C. Aguiar
- Sao Carlos Institute of Physics, University of São Paulo, Av. João Dagnone, 1100, São Carlos, São Paulo 13563-120, Brazil
| | - Angelika Sturm
- TropIQ Health Sciences, Transistorweg 5-C02, 6534 AT Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Benigno Crespo
- Global Health, GlaxoSmithKline R&D, Tres Cantos, Madrid 28760, Spain
| | - Laura M. Sanz
- Global Health, GlaxoSmithKline R&D, Tres Cantos, Madrid 28760, Spain
| | - Alisje Churchyard
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, South Kensington, London, SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
| | - Jake Baum
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, South Kensington, London, SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
| | - Dhelio B. Pereira
- Tropical Medicine Research Center of Rondonia, Av. Guaporé, 215, Porto Velho, Rondonia 76812-329, Brazil
| | - Rafael V. C. Guido
- Sao Carlos Institute of Physics, University of São Paulo, Av. João Dagnone, 1100, São Carlos, São Paulo 13563-120, Brazil
| | - Koen J. Dechering
- TropIQ Health Sciences, Transistorweg 5-C02, 6534 AT Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Sergio Wittlin
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstrasse 57, 4002 Basel, Switzerland
- University of Basel, 4002 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Anne-Catrin Uhlemann
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York 10032, United States
| | - David A. Fidock
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York 10032, United States
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York 10032, United States
| | - Jacquin C. Niles
- Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
| | - Vicky M. Avery
- Discovery Biology, Griffith University, Brisbane Innovation Park, Don Young Road, Nathan, Queensland 4111, Australia
| | - Susan A. Charman
- Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, 381 Royal Parade, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia
| | - Benoît Laleu
- Medicines for Malaria Venture, ICC, Route de Pré-Bois 20, 1215 Geneva, Switzerland
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12
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Yang T, Ottilie S, Istvan ES, Godinez-Macias KP, Lukens AK, Baragaña B, Campo B, Walpole C, Niles JC, Chibale K, Dechering KJ, Llinás M, Lee MCS, Kato N, Wyllie S, McNamara CW, Gamo FJ, Burrows J, Fidock DA, Goldberg DE, Gilbert IH, Wirth DF, Winzeler EA. MalDA, Accelerating Malaria Drug Discovery. Trends Parasitol 2021; 37:493-507. [PMID: 33648890 PMCID: PMC8261838 DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2021.01.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2020] [Revised: 01/20/2021] [Accepted: 01/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
The Malaria Drug Accelerator (MalDA) is a consortium of 15 leading scientific laboratories. The aim of MalDA is to improve and accelerate the early antimalarial drug discovery process by identifying new, essential, druggable targets. In addition, it seeks to produce early lead inhibitors that may be advanced into drug candidates suitable for preclinical development and subsequent clinical testing in humans. By sharing resources, including expertise, knowledge, materials, and reagents, the consortium strives to eliminate the structural barriers often encountered in the drug discovery process. Here we discuss the mission of the consortium and its scientific achievements, including the identification of new chemically and biologically validated targets, as well as future scientific directions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tuo Yang
- Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego (UCSD), La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Sabine Ottilie
- Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego (UCSD), La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Eva S Istvan
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO 63130, USA; Department of Molecular Microbiology, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO 63130, USA
| | - Karla P Godinez-Macias
- Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Graduate Program, University of California, San Diego (UCSD), La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Amanda K Lukens
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Beatriz Baragaña
- Wellcome Center for Anti-Infectives Research, Division of Biological Chemistry and Drug Discovery, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 5EH, UK
| | - Brice Campo
- Medicines for Malaria Venture, 1215 Geneva 15, Switzerland
| | - Chris Walpole
- Structural Genomics Consortium, Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, QC H4A 3J1, Canada
| | - Jacquin C Niles
- Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Building 56-341, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge MA 02139-4307, USA
| | - Kelly Chibale
- Drug Discovery and Development Centre (H3D), University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa; South African Medical Research Council Drug Discovery and Development Research Unit, Department of Chemistry and Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa
| | | | - Manuel Llinás
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Department of Chemistry, Huck Center for Malaria Research, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16082, USA
| | - Marcus C S Lee
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, UK
| | - Nobutaka Kato
- Global Health Drug Discovery Institute, Zhongguancun Dongsheng International Science Park, 1 North Yongtaizhuang Road, Beijing 100192, China
| | - Susan Wyllie
- Wellcome Center for Anti-Infectives Research, Division of Biological Chemistry and Drug Discovery, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 5EH, UK
| | - Case W McNamara
- Calibr, a division of The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
| | - Francisco Javier Gamo
- Tres Cantos Medicines Development Campus, Diseases of the Developing World, GlaxoSmithKline, Tres Cantos, 28760, Madrid, Spain
| | - Jeremy Burrows
- Medicines for Malaria Venture, 1215 Geneva 15, Switzerland
| | - David A Fidock
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology and Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Daniel E Goldberg
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO 63130, USA; Department of Molecular Microbiology, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO 63130, USA
| | - Ian H Gilbert
- Wellcome Center for Anti-Infectives Research, Division of Biological Chemistry and Drug Discovery, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 5EH, UK
| | - Dyann F Wirth
- Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Elizabeth A Winzeler
- Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego (UCSD), La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
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13
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Miyazaki Y, Marin-Mogollon C, Imai T, Mendes AM, van der Laak R, Sturm A, Geurten FJA, Miyazaki S, Chevalley-Maurel S, Ramesar J, Kolli SK, Kroeze H, van Schuijlenburg R, Salman AM, Wilder BK, Reyes-Sandoval A, Dechering KJ, Prudêncio M, Janse CJ, Khan SM, Franke-Fayard B. Generation of a Genetically Modified Chimeric Plasmodium falciparum Parasite Expressing Plasmodium vivax Circumsporozoite Protein for Malaria Vaccine Development. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2020; 10:591046. [PMID: 33392104 PMCID: PMC7773900 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2020.591046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2020] [Accepted: 11/11/2020] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Chimeric rodent malaria parasites with the endogenous circumsporozoite protein (csp) gene replaced with csp from the human parasites Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) and P. vivax (Pv) are used in preclinical evaluation of CSP vaccines. Chimeric rodent parasites expressing PfCSP have also been assessed as whole sporozoite (WSP) vaccines. Comparable chimeric P. falciparum parasites expressing CSP of P. vivax could be used both for clinical evaluation of vaccines targeting PvCSP in controlled human P. falciparum infections and in WSP vaccines targeting P. vivax and P. falciparum. We generated chimeric P. falciparum parasites expressing both PfCSP and PvCSP. These Pf-PvCSP parasites produced sporozoite comparable to wild type P. falciparum parasites and expressed PfCSP and PvCSP on the sporozoite surface. Pf-PvCSP sporozoites infected human hepatocytes and induced antibodies to the repeats of both PfCSP and PvCSP after immunization of mice. These results support the use of Pf-PvCSP sporozoites in studies optimizing vaccines targeting PvCSP.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yukiko Miyazaki
- Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
| | | | - Takashi Imai
- Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands.,Department of Infectious Diseases and Host Defense, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Japan
| | - António M Mendes
- Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | | | | | - Fiona J A Geurten
- Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Shinya Miyazaki
- Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
| | | | - Jai Ramesar
- Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Surendra K Kolli
- Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Hans Kroeze
- Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
| | | | - Ahmed M Salman
- The Jenner Institute, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Brandon K Wilder
- Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, Oregon, United States
| | - Arturo Reyes-Sandoval
- The Jenner Institute, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | | | - Miguel Prudêncio
- Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Chris J Janse
- Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Shahid M Khan
- Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
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14
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Schalkwijk J, Allman EL, Jansen PAM, de Vries LE, Verhoef JMJ, Jackowski S, Botman PNM, Beuckens-Schortinghuis CA, Koolen KMJ, Bolscher JM, Vos MW, Miller K, Reeves SA, Pett H, Trevitt G, Wittlin S, Scheurer C, Sax S, Fischli C, Angulo-Barturen I, Jiménez-Diaz MB, Josling G, Kooij TWA, Bonnert R, Campo B, Blaauw RH, Rutjes FPJT, Sauerwein RW, Llinás M, Hermkens PHH, Dechering KJ. Antimalarial pantothenamide metabolites target acetyl-coenzyme A biosynthesis in Plasmodium falciparum. Sci Transl Med 2020; 11:11/510/eaas9917. [PMID: 31534021 DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aas9917] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2018] [Revised: 09/07/2018] [Accepted: 03/28/2019] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Malaria eradication is critically dependent on new therapeutics that target resistant Plasmodium parasites and block transmission of the disease. Here, we report that pantothenamide bioisosteres were active against blood-stage Plasmodium falciparum parasites and also blocked transmission of sexual stages to the mosquito vector. These compounds were resistant to degradation by serum pantetheinases, showed favorable pharmacokinetic properties, and cleared parasites in a humanized mouse model of P. falciparum infection. Metabolomics revealed that coenzyme A biosynthetic enzymes converted pantothenamides into coenzyme A analogs that interfered with parasite acetyl-coenzyme A anabolism. Resistant parasites generated in vitro showed mutations in acetyl-coenzyme A synthetase and acyl-coenzyme A synthetase 11. Introduction and reversion of these mutations in P. falciparum using CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing confirmed the roles of these enzymes in the sensitivity of the malaria parasites to pantothenamides. These pantothenamide compounds with a new mode of action may have potential as drugs against malaria parasites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joost Schalkwijk
- Department of Dermatology, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
| | - Erik L Allman
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Huck Center for Malaria Research, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 USA
| | - Patrick A M Jansen
- Department of Dermatology, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Laura E de Vries
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Julie M J Verhoef
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Karen Miller
- St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Stacy A Reeves
- St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Helmi Pett
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | | | - Sergio Wittlin
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland.,University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Christian Scheurer
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland.,University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Sibylle Sax
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland.,University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Christoph Fischli
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland.,University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | | | | | - Gabrielle Josling
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Huck Center for Malaria Research, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 USA
| | - Taco W A Kooij
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | | | - Brice Campo
- Medicines for Malaria Venture, Geneva, Switzerland
| | | | | | - Robert W Sauerwein
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands.,TropIQ Health Sciences, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Manuel Llinás
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Huck Center for Malaria Research, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 USA.,Department of Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 USA
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15
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Singh SK, Plieskatt J, Chourasia BK, Singh V, Bolscher JM, Dechering KJ, Adu B, López-Méndez B, Kaviraj S, Locke E, King CR, Theisen M. The Plasmodium falciparum circumsporozoite protein produced in Lactococcus lactis is pure and stable. J Biol Chem 2019; 295:403-414. [PMID: 31792057 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.ra119.011268] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2019] [Revised: 11/03/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The Plasmodium falciparum circumsporozoite protein (PfCSP) is a sporozoite surface protein whose role in sporozoite motility and cell invasion has made it the leading candidate for a pre-erythrocytic malaria vaccine. However, production of high yields of soluble recombinant PfCSP, including its extensive NANP and NVDP repeats, has proven problematic. Here, we report on the development and characterization of a secreted, soluble, and stable full-length PfCSP (containing 4 NVDP and 38 NANP repeats) produced in the Lactococcus lactis expression system. The recombinant full-length PfCSP, denoted PfCSP4/38, was produced initially with a histidine tag and purified by a simple two-step procedure. Importantly, the recombinant PfCSP4/38 retained a conformational epitope for antibodies as confirmed by both in vivo and in vitro characterizations. We characterized this complex protein by HPLC, light scattering, MS analysis, differential scanning fluorimetry, CD, SDS-PAGE, and immunoblotting with conformation-dependent and -independent mAbs, which confirmed it to be both pure and soluble. Moreover, we found that the recombinant protein is stable at both frozen and elevated-temperature storage conditions. When we used L. lactis-derived PfCSP4/38 to immunize mice, it elicited high levels of functional antibodies that had the capacity to modify sporozoite motility in vitro We concluded that the reported yield, purity, results of biophysical analyses, and stability of PfCSP4/38 warrant further consideration of using the L. lactis system for the production of circumsporozoite proteins for preclinical and clinical applications in malaria vaccine development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susheel K Singh
- Department for Congenital Disorders, Statens Serum Institut, 2300 Copenhagen, Denmark; Centre for Medical Parasitology at Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark; Department of Infectious Diseases, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | | | - Bishwanath Kumar Chourasia
- Department for Congenital Disorders, Statens Serum Institut, 2300 Copenhagen, Denmark; Centre for Medical Parasitology at Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark; Department of Infectious Diseases, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Vandana Singh
- Department for Congenital Disorders, Statens Serum Institut, 2300 Copenhagen, Denmark; Centre for Medical Parasitology at Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark; Department of Infectious Diseases, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | | | | | - Bright Adu
- Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana
| | - Blanca López-Méndez
- Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | | | - Emily Locke
- PATH's Malaria Vaccine Initiative, Washington, D. C. 20001
| | - C Richter King
- PATH's Malaria Vaccine Initiative, Washington, D. C. 20001
| | - Michael Theisen
- Department for Congenital Disorders, Statens Serum Institut, 2300 Copenhagen, Denmark; Centre for Medical Parasitology at Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark; Department of Infectious Diseases, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
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16
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Winkel BMF, de Korne CM, van Oosterom MN, Staphorst D, Meijhuis M, Baalbergen E, Ganesh MS, Dechering KJ, Vos MW, Chevalley-Maurel SC, Franke-Fayard B, van Leeuwen FWB, Roestenberg M. Quantification of wild-type and radiation attenuated Plasmodium falciparum sporozoite motility in human skin. Sci Rep 2019; 9:13436. [PMID: 31530862 PMCID: PMC6748968 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-49895-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2019] [Accepted: 08/31/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Given the number of global malaria cases and deaths, the need for a vaccine against Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) remains pressing. Administration of live, radiation-attenuated Pf sporozoites can fully protect malaria-naïve individuals. Despite the fact that motility of these attenuated parasites is key to their infectivity and ultimately protective efficacy, sporozoite motility in human tissue (e.g. skin) remains wholly uncharacterized to date. We show that the ability to quantitatively address the complexity of sporozoite motility in human tissue provides an additional tool in the development of attenuated sporozoite vaccines. We imaged Pf movement in the skin of its natural host and compared wild-type and radiation-attenuated GFP-expressing Pf sporozoites. Using custom image analysis software and human skin explants we were able to quantitatively study their key motility features. This head-to-head comparison revealed that radiation attenuation impaired the capacity of sporozoites to vary their movement angle, velocity and direction, promoting less refined movement patterns. Understanding and overcoming these changes in motility will contribute to the development of an efficacious attenuated parasite malaria vaccine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Béatrice M F Winkel
- Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands
- Interventional Molecular Imaging laboratory, Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Clarize M de Korne
- Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands
- Interventional Molecular Imaging laboratory, Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Matthias N van Oosterom
- Interventional Molecular Imaging laboratory, Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Diego Staphorst
- Interventional Molecular Imaging laboratory, Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Mark Meijhuis
- Interventional Molecular Imaging laboratory, Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Els Baalbergen
- Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Munisha S Ganesh
- Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Koen J Dechering
- TropIQ Health Sciences, Transistorweg 5, 6534, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Martijn W Vos
- TropIQ Health Sciences, Transistorweg 5, 6534, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Séverine C Chevalley-Maurel
- Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Blandine Franke-Fayard
- Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Fijs W B van Leeuwen
- Interventional Molecular Imaging laboratory, Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Meta Roestenberg
- Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands.
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands.
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17
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Barry A, Behet MC, Nébié I, Lanke K, Grignard L, Ouedraogo A, Soulama I, Drakeley C, Sauerwein R, Bolscher JM, Dechering KJ, Bousema T, Tiono AB, Gonçalves BP. Functional antibodies against Plasmodium falciparum sporozoites are associated with a longer time to qPCR-detected infection among schoolchildren in Burkina Faso. Wellcome Open Res 2019; 3:159. [PMID: 30828645 PMCID: PMC6381444 DOI: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.14932.2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/23/2019] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Individuals living in malaria-endemic regions develop immunity against severe malaria, but it is unclear whether immunity against pre-erythrocytic stages that blocks initiation of blood-stage infection after parasite inoculation develops following continuous natural exposure. Methods: We cleared schoolchildren living in an area (health district of Saponé, Burkina Faso) with highly endemic seasonal malaria of possible sub-patent infections and examined them weekly for incident infections by nested PCR. Plasma samples collected at enrolment were used to quantify antibodies to the pre-eryhrocytic-stage antigens circumsporozoite protein (CSP) and Liver stage antigen 1 (LSA-1).
In vitro sporozoite gliding inhibition and hepatocyte invasion inhibition by naturally acquired antibodies were assessed using
Plasmodium falciparum NF54 sporozoites. Associations between antibody responses, functional pre-erythrocytic immunity phenotypes and time to infection detected by
18S quantitative PCR were studied. Results: A total of 51 children were monitored. Anti-CSP antibody titres showed a positive association with sporozoite gliding motility inhibition (P<0.0001, Spearman’s ρ=0.76).
In vitro hepatocyte invasion was inhibited by naturally acquired antibodies (median inhibition, 19.4% [IQR 15.2-40.9%]), and there were positive correlations between invasion inhibition and gliding inhibition (P=0.005, Spearman’s ρ=0.67) and between invasion inhibition and CSP-specific antibodies (P=0.002, Spearman’s ρ=0.76). Survival analysis indicated longer time to infection in individuals displaying higher-than-median sporozoite gliding inhibition activity (P=0.01), although this association became non-significant after adjustment for blood-stage immunity (P = 0.06). Conclusions: In summary, functional antibodies against the pre-erythrocytic stages of malaria infection are acquired in children who are repeatedly exposed to
Plasmodium parasites. This immune response does not prevent them from becoming infected during a malaria transmission season, but might delay the appearance of blood stage parasitaemia. Our approach could not fully separate the effects of pre-erythrocytic-specific and blood-stage-specific antibody-mediated immune responses
in vivo; epidemiological studies powered and designed to address this important question should become a research priority.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aissata Barry
- Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.,Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Marije C Behet
- Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Issa Nébié
- Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | - Kjerstin Lanke
- Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Lynn Grignard
- Department of Immunology and Infection, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | - Alphonse Ouedraogo
- Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | - Issiaka Soulama
- Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | - Chris Drakeley
- Department of Immunology and Infection, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | - Robert Sauerwein
- Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | | | | | - Teun Bousema
- Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Department of Immunology and Infection, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | - Alfred B Tiono
- Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | - Bronner P Gonçalves
- Department of Immunology and Infection, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
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18
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Barry A, Behet MC, Nébié I, Lanke K, Grignard L, Ouedraogo A, Soulama I, Drakeley C, Sauerwein R, Bolscher JM, Dechering KJ, Bousema T, Tiono AB, Gonçalves BP. Functional antibodies against Plasmodium falciparum sporozoites are associated with a longer time to qPCR-detected infection among schoolchildren in Burkina Faso. Wellcome Open Res 2019; 3:159. [PMID: 30828645 DOI: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.14932.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/03/2018] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Background: Individuals living in malaria-endemic regions develop immunity against severe malaria, but it is unclear whether immunity against pre-erythrocytic stages that blocks initiation of blood-stage infection after parasite inoculation develops following continuous natural exposure. Methods: We cleared schoolchildren living in an area (health district of Saponé, Burkina Faso) with highly endemic seasonal malaria of possible sub-patent infections and examined them weekly for incident infections by nested PCR. Plasma samples collected at enrolment were used to quantify antibodies to the pre-eryhrocytic-stage antigens circumsporozoite protein (CSP) and Liver stage antigen 1 (LSA-1). In vitro sporozoite gliding inhibition and hepatocyte invasion inhibition by naturally acquired antibodies were assessed using Plasmodium falciparum NF54 sporozoites. Associations between antibody responses, functional pre-erythrocytic immunity phenotypes and time to infection detected by 18S quantitative PCR were studied. Results: A total of 51 children were monitored. Anti-CSP antibody titres showed a positive association with sporozoite gliding motility inhibition (P<0.0001, Spearman's ρ=0.76). In vitro hepatocyte invasion was inhibited by naturally acquired antibodies (median inhibition, 19.4% [IQR 15.2-40.9%]), and there were positive correlations between invasion inhibition and gliding inhibition (P=0.005, Spearman's ρ=0.67) and between invasion inhibition and CSP-specific antibodies (P=0.002, Spearman's ρ=0.76). Survival analysis indicated longer time to infection in individuals displaying higher-than-median sporozoite gliding inhibition activity (P=0.01), although this association became non-significant after adjustment for blood-stage immunity (P = 0.06). Conclusions: In summary, functional antibodies against the pre-erythrocytic stages of malaria infection are acquired in children who are repeatedly exposed to Plasmodium parasites. This immune response does not prevent them from becoming infected during a malaria transmission season, but might delay the appearance of blood stage parasitaemia. Our approach could not fully separate the effects of pre-erythrocytic-specific and blood-stage-specific antibody-mediated immune responses in vivo; epidemiological studies powered and designed to address this important question should become a research priority.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aissata Barry
- Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.,Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Marije C Behet
- Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Issa Nébié
- Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | - Kjerstin Lanke
- Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Lynn Grignard
- Department of Immunology and Infection, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | - Alphonse Ouedraogo
- Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | - Issiaka Soulama
- Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | - Chris Drakeley
- Department of Immunology and Infection, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | - Robert Sauerwein
- Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | | | | | - Teun Bousema
- Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Department of Immunology and Infection, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | - Alfred B Tiono
- Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | - Bronner P Gonçalves
- Department of Immunology and Infection, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
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19
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Marin-Mogollon C, Salman AM, Koolen KMJ, Bolscher JM, van Pul FJA, Miyazaki S, Imai T, Othman AS, Ramesar J, van Gemert GJ, Kroeze H, Chevalley-Maurel S, Franke-Fayard B, Sauerwein RW, Hill AVS, Dechering KJ, Janse CJ, Khan SM. A P. falciparum NF54 Reporter Line Expressing mCherry-Luciferase in Gametocytes, Sporozoites, and Liver-Stages. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2019; 9:96. [PMID: 31058097 PMCID: PMC6477837 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2019.00096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2018] [Accepted: 03/22/2019] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Transgenic malaria parasites expressing fluorescent and bioluminescent proteins are valuable tools to interrogate malaria-parasite biology and to evaluate drugs and vaccines. Using CRISPR/Cas9 methodology a transgenic Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) NF54 line was generated that expresses a fusion of mCherry and luciferase genes under the control of the Pf etramp10.3 gene promoter (line mCherry-luc@etramp10.3). Pf etramp10.3 is related to rodent Plasmodium uis4 and the uis4 promoter has been used to drive high transgene expression in rodent parasite sporozoites and liver-stages. We examined transgene expression throughout the complete life cycle and compared this expression to transgenic lines expressing mCherry-luciferase and GFP-luciferase under control of the constitutive gapdh and eef1a promoters. The mCherry-luc@etramp10.3 parasites express mCherry in gametocytes, sporozoites, and liver-stages. While no mCherry signal was detected in asexual blood-stage parasites above background levels, luciferase expression was detected in asexual blood-stages, as well as in gametocytes, sporozoites and liver-stages, with the highest levels of reporter expression detected in stage III-V gametocytes and in sporozoites. The expression of mCherry and luciferase in gametocytes and sporozoites makes this transgenic parasite line suitable to use in in vitro assays that examine the effect of transmission blocking inhibitors and to analyse gametocyte and sporozoite biology.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ahmed M Salman
- Nuffield Department of Medicine, The Jenner Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | | | | | - Fiona J A van Pul
- Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Shinya Miyazaki
- Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Takashi Imai
- Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands.,Department of Infectious Diseases and Host Defense, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Japan
| | - Ahmad Syibli Othman
- Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands.,Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Terengganu, Malaysia
| | - Jai Ramesar
- Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Geert-Jan van Gemert
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Hans Kroeze
- Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
| | | | | | - Robert W Sauerwein
- TropIQ Health Sciences, Nijmegen, Netherlands.,Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Adrian V S Hill
- Nuffield Department of Medicine, The Jenner Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | | | - Chris J Janse
- Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Shahid M Khan
- Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
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20
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Miglianico M, Eldering M, Slater H, Ferguson N, Ambrose P, Lees RS, Koolen KMJ, Pruzinova K, Jancarova M, Volf P, Koenraadt CJM, Duerr HP, Trevitt G, Yang B, Chatterjee AK, Wisler J, Sturm A, Bousema T, Sauerwein RW, Schultz PG, Tremblay MS, Dechering KJ. Repurposing isoxazoline veterinary drugs for control of vector-borne human diseases. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2018; 115:E6920-E6926. [PMID: 29967151 PMCID: PMC6055183 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1801338115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Isoxazolines are oral insecticidal drugs currently licensed for ectoparasite control in companion animals. Here we propose their use in humans for the reduction of vector-borne disease incidence. Fluralaner and afoxolaner rapidly killed Anopheles, Aedes, and Culex mosquitoes and Phlebotomus sand flies after feeding on a drug-supplemented blood meal, with IC50 values ranging from 33 to 575 nM, and were fully active against strains with preexisting resistance to common insecticides. Based on allometric scaling of preclinical pharmacokinetics data, we predict that a single human median dose of 260 mg (IQR, 177-407 mg) for afoxolaner, or 410 mg (IQR, 278-648 mg) for fluralaner, could provide an insecticidal effect lasting 50-90 days against mosquitoes and Phlebotomus sand flies. Computational modeling showed that seasonal mass drug administration of such a single dose to a fraction of a regional population would dramatically reduce clinical cases of Zika and malaria in endemic settings. Isoxazolines therefore represent a promising new component of drug-based vector control.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Hannah Slater
- MRC Centre for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
| | - Neil Ferguson
- MRC Centre for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
| | - Pauline Ambrose
- The Liverpool Insect Testing Establishment, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool L3 5QA, United Kingdom
| | - Rosemary S Lees
- The Liverpool Insect Testing Establishment, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool L3 5QA, United Kingdom
| | | | - Katerina Pruzinova
- Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, 116 36 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Magdalena Jancarova
- Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, 116 36 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Petr Volf
- Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, 116 36 Prague, Czech Republic
| | | | | | | | - Baiyuan Yang
- California Institute for Biomedical Research, La Jolla, CA 92037
| | | | - John Wisler
- California Institute for Biomedical Research, La Jolla, CA 92037
| | | | - Teun Bousema
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Medical Center, 6525 Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Robert W Sauerwein
- TropIQ Health Sciences, 6534 Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Medical Center, 6525 Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Peter G Schultz
- California Institute for Biomedical Research, La Jolla, CA 92037;
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21
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Paquet T, Le Manach C, Cabrera DG, Younis Y, Henrich PP, Abraham TS, Lee MCS, Basak R, Ghidelli-Disse S, Lafuente-Monasterio MJ, Bantscheff M, Ruecker A, Blagborough AM, Zakutansky SE, Zeeman AM, White KL, Shackleford DM, Mannila J, Morizzi J, Scheurer C, Angulo-Barturen I, Martínez MS, Ferrer S, Sanz LM, Gamo FJ, Reader J, Botha M, Dechering KJ, Sauerwein RW, Tungtaeng A, Vanachayangkul P, Lim CS, Burrows J, Witty MJ, Marsh KC, Bodenreider C, Rochford R, Solapure SM, Jiménez-Díaz MB, Wittlin S, Charman SA, Donini C, Campo B, Birkholtz LM, Hanson KK, Drewes G, Kocken CHM, Delves MJ, Leroy D, Fidock DA, Waterson D, Street LJ, Chibale K. Antimalarial efficacy of MMV390048, an inhibitor of Plasmodium phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase. Sci Transl Med 2018; 9:9/387/eaad9735. [PMID: 28446690 DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aad9735] [Citation(s) in RCA: 175] [Impact Index Per Article: 29.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2015] [Accepted: 11/21/2016] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
As part of the global effort toward malaria eradication, phenotypic whole-cell screening revealed the 2-aminopyridine class of small molecules as a good starting point to develop new antimalarial drugs. Stemming from this series, we found that the derivative, MMV390048, lacked cross-resistance with current drugs used to treat malaria. This compound was efficacious against all Plasmodium life cycle stages, apart from late hypnozoites in the liver. Efficacy was shown in the humanized Plasmodium falciparum mouse model, and modest reductions in mouse-to-mouse transmission were achieved in the Plasmodium berghei mouse model. Experiments in monkeys revealed the ability of MMV390048 to be used for full chemoprotection. Although MMV390048 was not able to eliminate liver hypnozoites, it delayed relapse in a Plasmodium cynomolgi monkey model. Both genomic and chemoproteomic studies identified a kinase of the Plasmodium parasite, phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase, as the molecular target of MMV390048. The ability of MMV390048 to block all life cycle stages of the malaria parasite suggests that this compound should be further developed and may contribute to malaria control and eradication as part of a single-dose combination treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tanya Paquet
- Department of Chemistry, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa
| | - Claire Le Manach
- Department of Chemistry, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa
| | | | - Yassir Younis
- Department of Chemistry, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa
| | - Philipp P Henrich
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA.,The Jackson Laboratory, 600 Main Street, Bar Harbor, ME 04609, USA
| | - Tara S Abraham
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA.,Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Thomas Jefferson University, 1020 Locust Street, Suite 368, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA
| | - Marcus C S Lee
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA.,Malaria Programme, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton CB10 1SA, UK
| | - Rajshekhar Basak
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA.,Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, 266 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT 06520-8114, USA
| | - Sonja Ghidelli-Disse
- Cellzome GmbH, Molecular Discovery Research, GlaxoSmithKline, Meyerhofstrasse 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
| | - María José Lafuente-Monasterio
- Malaria Disease Performance Unit, Tres Cantos Medicines Development Campus, Diseases of the Developing World, GlaxoSmithKline, Severo Ochoa 2, 28760 Tres Cantos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Marcus Bantscheff
- Cellzome GmbH, Molecular Discovery Research, GlaxoSmithKline, Meyerhofstrasse 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Andrea Ruecker
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, UK
| | | | | | - Anne-Marie Zeeman
- Department of Parasitology, Biomedical Primate Research Centre, 2280 GH Rijswijk, Netherlands
| | - Karen L White
- Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, 381 Royal Parade, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia
| | - David M Shackleford
- Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, 381 Royal Parade, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia
| | - Janne Mannila
- Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, 381 Royal Parade, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia.,Admescope Ltd., Typpitie 1, 90620 Oulu, Finland
| | - Julia Morizzi
- Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, 381 Royal Parade, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia
| | - Christian Scheurer
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstrasse 57, 4002 Basel, Switzerland.,University of Basel, 4003 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Iñigo Angulo-Barturen
- Malaria Disease Performance Unit, Tres Cantos Medicines Development Campus, Diseases of the Developing World, GlaxoSmithKline, Severo Ochoa 2, 28760 Tres Cantos, Madrid, Spain
| | - María Santos Martínez
- Malaria Disease Performance Unit, Tres Cantos Medicines Development Campus, Diseases of the Developing World, GlaxoSmithKline, Severo Ochoa 2, 28760 Tres Cantos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Santiago Ferrer
- Malaria Disease Performance Unit, Tres Cantos Medicines Development Campus, Diseases of the Developing World, GlaxoSmithKline, Severo Ochoa 2, 28760 Tres Cantos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Laura María Sanz
- Malaria Disease Performance Unit, Tres Cantos Medicines Development Campus, Diseases of the Developing World, GlaxoSmithKline, Severo Ochoa 2, 28760 Tres Cantos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Francisco Javier Gamo
- Malaria Disease Performance Unit, Tres Cantos Medicines Development Campus, Diseases of the Developing World, GlaxoSmithKline, Severo Ochoa 2, 28760 Tres Cantos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Janette Reader
- Department of Biochemistry, Centre for Sustainable Malaria Control, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Mariette Botha
- Department of Biochemistry, Centre for Sustainable Malaria Control, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Koen J Dechering
- TropIQ Health Sciences, Transistorweg 5, 6534 AT Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Robert W Sauerwein
- TropIQ Health Sciences, Transistorweg 5, 6534 AT Nijmegen, Netherlands.,Radboud University Medical Center, Department of Medical Microbiology, 6500 HB Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Anchalee Tungtaeng
- Department of Veterinary Medicine, Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangkok 10400, Thailand
| | - Pattaraporn Vanachayangkul
- Department of Immunology and Medicine, Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangkok 10400, Thailand
| | - Chek Shik Lim
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases Pte. Ltd., 10 Biopolis Road, #05-01 Chromos, Singapore 138670, Singapore
| | - Jeremy Burrows
- Medicines for Malaria Venture, International Center Cointrin, Route de Pré-Bois 20, 1215 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Michael J Witty
- Department of Chemistry, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa.,Medicines for Malaria Venture, International Center Cointrin, Route de Pré-Bois 20, 1215 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Kennan C Marsh
- AbbVie, 1 North Waukegan Road, North Chicago, IL 60064-6104, USA
| | - Christophe Bodenreider
- Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases Pte. Ltd., 10 Biopolis Road, #05-01 Chromos, Singapore 138670, Singapore
| | - Rosemary Rochford
- Departments of Immunology and Microbiology and Environmental and Occupational Health, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, CO 80045, USA
| | - Suresh M Solapure
- Nagarjuna Gardens, 60 Feet Road, Sahakaranagar, Bangalore 560092, India
| | - María Belén Jiménez-Díaz
- Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Thomas Jefferson University, 1020 Locust Street, Suite 368, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA
| | - Sergio Wittlin
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstrasse 57, 4002 Basel, Switzerland.,University of Basel, 4003 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Susan A Charman
- Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, 381 Royal Parade, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia
| | - Cristina Donini
- Medicines for Malaria Venture, International Center Cointrin, Route de Pré-Bois 20, 1215 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Brice Campo
- Medicines for Malaria Venture, International Center Cointrin, Route de Pré-Bois 20, 1215 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Lyn-Marie Birkholtz
- Department of Biochemistry, Centre for Sustainable Malaria Control, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Kirsten K Hanson
- Department of Biology and South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases, University of Texas at San Antonio, 1 UTSA Circle, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA
| | - Gerard Drewes
- Cellzome GmbH, Molecular Discovery Research, GlaxoSmithKline, Meyerhofstrasse 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Clemens H M Kocken
- Department of Parasitology, Biomedical Primate Research Centre, 2280 GH Rijswijk, Netherlands
| | - Michael J Delves
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, UK
| | - Didier Leroy
- Medicines for Malaria Venture, International Center Cointrin, Route de Pré-Bois 20, 1215 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - David A Fidock
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA.,Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - David Waterson
- Department of Chemistry, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa.,Medicines for Malaria Venture, International Center Cointrin, Route de Pré-Bois 20, 1215 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Leslie J Street
- Department of Chemistry, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa
| | - Kelly Chibale
- Department of Chemistry, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa. .,South African Medical Research Council Drug Discovery and Development Research Unit, and Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa
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22
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Dechering KJ, Duerr HP, Koolen KMJ, Gemert GJV, Bousema T, Burrows J, Leroy D, Sauerwein RW. Modelling mosquito infection at natural parasite densities identifies drugs targeting EF2, PI4K or ATP4 as key candidates for interrupting malaria transmission. Sci Rep 2017; 7:17680. [PMID: 29247222 PMCID: PMC5732164 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-16671-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2017] [Accepted: 11/16/2017] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Eradication of malaria requires a novel type of drug that blocks transmission from the human to the mosquito host, but selection of such a drug is hampered by a lack of translational models. Experimental mosquito infections yield infection intensities that are substantially higher than observed in natural infections and, as a consequence, underestimate the drug effect on the proportion of mosquitoes that become infected. Here we introduce a novel experimental and computational method to adequately describe drug efficacy at natural parasite densities. Parameters of a beta-binomial infection model were established and validated using a large number of experimental mosquito infections at different parasite densities. Analyses of 15 experimental and marketed drugs revealed a class-specific ability to block parasite transmission. Our results highlight the parasite's elongation factor EF2, PI4 kinase and the ATP4 sodium channel as key targets for interruption of transmission, and compounds DDD107498 and KAE609 as most advanced drug candidates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Koen J Dechering
- TropIQ Health Sciences, Transistorweg 5-C02, 6534AT, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
| | | | - Karin M J Koolen
- TropIQ Health Sciences, Transistorweg 5-C02, 6534AT, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Geert-Jan van Gemert
- Radboud University Medical Center, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Teun Bousema
- Radboud University Medical Center, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Jeremy Burrows
- Medicines for Malaria Venture, Route de Pré-Bois 20, 1215, Geneva, 15, Switzerland
| | - Didier Leroy
- Medicines for Malaria Venture, Route de Pré-Bois 20, 1215, Geneva, 15, Switzerland
| | - Robert W Sauerwein
- TropIQ Health Sciences, Transistorweg 5-C02, 6534AT, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Radboud University Medical Center, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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23
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Baker DA, Stewart LB, Large JM, Bowyer PW, Ansell KH, Jiménez-Díaz MB, El Bakkouri M, Birchall K, Dechering KJ, Bouloc NS, Coombs PJ, Whalley D, Harding DJ, Smiljanic-Hurley E, Wheldon MC, Walker EM, Dessens JT, Lafuente MJ, Sanz LM, Gamo FJ, Ferrer SB, Hui R, Bousema T, Angulo-Barturén I, Merritt AT, Croft SL, Gutteridge WE, Kettleborough CA, Osborne SA. A potent series targeting the malarial cGMP-dependent protein kinase clears infection and blocks transmission. Nat Commun 2017; 8:430. [PMID: 28874661 PMCID: PMC5585294 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-00572-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 84] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2017] [Accepted: 07/10/2017] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
To combat drug resistance, new chemical entities are urgently required for use in next generation anti-malarial combinations. We report here the results of a medicinal chemistry programme focused on an imidazopyridine series targeting the Plasmodium falciparum cyclic GMP-dependent protein kinase (PfPKG). The most potent compound (ML10) has an IC50 of 160 pM in a PfPKG kinase assay and inhibits P. falciparum blood stage proliferation in vitro with an EC50 of 2.1 nM. Oral dosing renders blood stage parasitaemia undetectable in vivo using a P. falciparum SCID mouse model. The series targets both merozoite egress and erythrocyte invasion, but crucially, also blocks transmission of mature P. falciparum gametocytes to Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes. A co-crystal structure of PvPKG bound to ML10, reveals intimate molecular contacts that explain the high levels of potency and selectivity we have measured. The properties of this series warrant consideration for further development to produce an antimalarial drug. Protein kinases are promising drug targets for treatment of malaria. Here, starting with a medicinal chemistry approach, Baker et al. generate an imidazopyridine that selectively targets Plasmodium falciparum PKG, inhibits blood stage parasite growth in vitro and in mice and blocks transmission to mosquitoes.
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Affiliation(s)
- David A Baker
- Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London, WC1E 7HT, UK.
| | - Lindsay B Stewart
- Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London, WC1E 7HT, UK
| | - Jonathan M Large
- LifeArc, Accelerator Building, Open Innovation Campus, Stevenage, SG1 2FX, UK
| | - Paul W Bowyer
- Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London, WC1E 7HT, UK
| | - Keith H Ansell
- LifeArc, Accelerator Building, Open Innovation Campus, Stevenage, SG1 2FX, UK
| | - María B Jiménez-Díaz
- Tres Cantos Medicines Development Campus-Diseases of the Developing World, GlaxoSmithKline, Tres Cantos,, 28760, Madrid, Spain
| | - Majida El Bakkouri
- Structural Genomics Consortium, University of Toronto, MaRS South Tower, 101 College Street, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5G 1L7.,Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, 610 University Avenue, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5G 2M9
| | - Kristian Birchall
- LifeArc, Accelerator Building, Open Innovation Campus, Stevenage, SG1 2FX, UK
| | - Koen J Dechering
- TropIQ Health Sciences, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Nathalie S Bouloc
- LifeArc, Accelerator Building, Open Innovation Campus, Stevenage, SG1 2FX, UK
| | - Peter J Coombs
- LifeArc, Accelerator Building, Open Innovation Campus, Stevenage, SG1 2FX, UK
| | - David Whalley
- LifeArc, Accelerator Building, Open Innovation Campus, Stevenage, SG1 2FX, UK
| | - Denise J Harding
- LifeArc, Accelerator Building, Open Innovation Campus, Stevenage, SG1 2FX, UK
| | | | - Mary C Wheldon
- LifeArc, Accelerator Building, Open Innovation Campus, Stevenage, SG1 2FX, UK
| | - Eloise M Walker
- Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London, WC1E 7HT, UK
| | - Johannes T Dessens
- Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London, WC1E 7HT, UK
| | - María José Lafuente
- Tres Cantos Medicines Development Campus-Diseases of the Developing World, GlaxoSmithKline, Tres Cantos,, 28760, Madrid, Spain
| | - Laura M Sanz
- Tres Cantos Medicines Development Campus-Diseases of the Developing World, GlaxoSmithKline, Tres Cantos,, 28760, Madrid, Spain
| | - Francisco-Javier Gamo
- Tres Cantos Medicines Development Campus-Diseases of the Developing World, GlaxoSmithKline, Tres Cantos,, 28760, Madrid, Spain
| | - Santiago B Ferrer
- Tres Cantos Medicines Development Campus-Diseases of the Developing World, GlaxoSmithKline, Tres Cantos,, 28760, Madrid, Spain
| | - Raymond Hui
- Structural Genomics Consortium, University of Toronto, MaRS South Tower, 101 College Street, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5G 1L7.,Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, 610 University Avenue, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5G 2M9
| | - Teun Bousema
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Medical Center, 6525 HP, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Iñigo Angulo-Barturén
- Tres Cantos Medicines Development Campus-Diseases of the Developing World, GlaxoSmithKline, Tres Cantos,, 28760, Madrid, Spain
| | - Andy T Merritt
- LifeArc, Accelerator Building, Open Innovation Campus, Stevenage, SG1 2FX, UK
| | - Simon L Croft
- Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London, WC1E 7HT, UK
| | - Winston E Gutteridge
- Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London, WC1E 7HT, UK
| | | | - Simon A Osborne
- LifeArc, Accelerator Building, Open Innovation Campus, Stevenage, SG1 2FX, UK
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24
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Le Bihan A, de Kanter R, Angulo-Barturen I, Binkert C, Boss C, Brun R, Brunner R, Buchmann S, Burrows J, Dechering KJ, Delves M, Ewerling S, Ferrer S, Fischli C, Gamo–Benito FJ, Gnädig NF, Heidmann B, Jiménez-Díaz MB, Leroy D, Martínez MS, Meyer S, Moehrle JJ, Ng CL, Noviyanti R, Ruecker A, Sanz LM, Sauerwein RW, Scheurer C, Schleiferboeck S, Sinden R, Snyder C, Straimer J, Wirjanata G, Marfurt J, Price RN, Weller T, Fischli W, Fidock DA, Clozel M, Wittlin S. Characterization of Novel Antimalarial Compound ACT-451840: Preclinical Assessment of Activity and Dose-Efficacy Modeling. PLoS Med 2016; 13:e1002138. [PMID: 27701420 PMCID: PMC5049785 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1002138] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2015] [Accepted: 08/24/2016] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Artemisinin resistance observed in Southeast Asia threatens the continued use of artemisinin-based combination therapy in endemic countries. Additionally, the diversity of chemical mode of action in the global portfolio of marketed antimalarials is extremely limited. Addressing the urgent need for the development of new antimalarials, a chemical class of potent antimalarial compounds with a novel mode of action was recently identified. Herein, the preclinical characterization of one of these compounds, ACT-451840, conducted in partnership with academic and industrial groups is presented. METHOD AND FINDINGS The properties of ACT-451840 are described, including its spectrum of activities against multiple life cycle stages of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum (asexual and sexual) and Plasmodium vivax (asexual) as well as oral in vivo efficacies in two murine malaria models that permit infection with the human and the rodent parasites P. falciparum and Plasmodium berghei, respectively. In vitro, ACT-451840 showed a 50% inhibition concentration of 0.4 nM (standard deviation [SD]: ± 0.0 nM) against the drug-sensitive P. falciparum NF54 strain. The 90% effective doses in the in vivo efficacy models were 3.7 mg/kg against P. falciparum (95% confidence interval: 3.3-4.9 mg/kg) and 13 mg/kg against P. berghei (95% confidence interval: 11-16 mg/kg). ACT-451840 potently prevented male gamete formation from the gametocyte stage with a 50% inhibition concentration of 5.89 nM (SD: ± 1.80 nM) and dose-dependently blocked oocyst development in the mosquito with a 50% inhibitory concentration of 30 nM (range: 23-39). The compound's preclinical safety profile is presented and is in line with the published results of the first-in-man study in healthy male participants, in whom ACT-451840 was well tolerated. Pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) modeling was applied using efficacy in the murine models (defined either as antimalarial activity or as survival) in relation to area under the concentration versus time curve (AUC), maximum observed plasma concentration (Cmax), and time above a threshold concentration. The determination of the dose-efficacy relationship of ACT-451840 under curative conditions in rodent malaria models allowed prediction of the human efficacious exposure. CONCLUSION The dual activity of ACT-451840 against asexual and sexual stages of P. falciparum and the activity on P. vivax have the potential to meet the specific profile of a target compound that could replace the fast-acting artemisinin component and harbor additional gametocytocidal activity and, thereby, transmission-blocking properties. The fast parasite reduction ratio (PRR) and gametocytocidal effect of ACT-451840 were recently also confirmed in a clinical proof-of-concept (POC) study.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Iñigo Angulo-Barturen
- GlaxoSmithKline, TresCantos Medicines Development Campus, Diseases of the Developing World, Tres Cantos, Madrid, Spain
| | | | | | - Reto Brun
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland
- University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Ralf Brunner
- Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Allschwil, Switzerland
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland
- University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | | | | | | | - Michael Delves
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, SW7 2AZ, London, United Kingdom
| | | | - Santiago Ferrer
- GlaxoSmithKline, TresCantos Medicines Development Campus, Diseases of the Developing World, Tres Cantos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Christoph Fischli
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland
- University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Francisco Javier Gamo–Benito
- GlaxoSmithKline, TresCantos Medicines Development Campus, Diseases of the Developing World, Tres Cantos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Nina F. Gnädig
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York, United States of America
| | | | - María Belén Jiménez-Díaz
- GlaxoSmithKline, TresCantos Medicines Development Campus, Diseases of the Developing World, Tres Cantos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Didier Leroy
- Medicines for Malaria Venture, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Maria Santos Martínez
- GlaxoSmithKline, TresCantos Medicines Development Campus, Diseases of the Developing World, Tres Cantos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Solange Meyer
- Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Allschwil, Switzerland
| | | | - Caroline L. Ng
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York, United States of America
| | | | - Andrea Ruecker
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, SW7 2AZ, London, United Kingdom
| | - Laura María Sanz
- GlaxoSmithKline, TresCantos Medicines Development Campus, Diseases of the Developing World, Tres Cantos, Madrid, Spain
| | | | - Christian Scheurer
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland
- University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Sarah Schleiferboeck
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland
- University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Robert Sinden
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, SW7 2AZ, London, United Kingdom
| | | | - Judith Straimer
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Grennady Wirjanata
- Global and Tropical Health Division, Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia
| | - Jutta Marfurt
- Global and Tropical Health Division, Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia
| | - Ric N. Price
- Global and Tropical Health Division, Menzies School of Health Research and Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia
- Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Thomas Weller
- Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Allschwil, Switzerland
| | | | - David A. Fidock
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York, United States of America
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York, United States of America
| | | | - Sergio Wittlin
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland
- University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
- * E-mail:
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25
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Miura K, Stone WJR, Koolen KM, Deng B, Zhou L, van Gemert GJ, Locke E, Morin M, Bousema T, Sauerwein RW, Long CA, Dechering KJ. An inter-laboratory comparison of standard membrane-feeding assays for evaluation of malaria transmission-blocking vaccines. Malar J 2016; 15:463. [PMID: 27612458 PMCID: PMC5016893 DOI: 10.1186/s12936-016-1515-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2016] [Accepted: 09/02/2016] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND An effective malaria transmission-blocking vaccine may play an important role in malaria elimination efforts, and a robust biological assay is essential for its development. The standard membrane-feeding assay (SMFA) for Plasmodium falciparum infection of mosquitoes is considered a "gold standard" assay to measure transmission-blocking activity of test antibodies, and has been utilized widely in both non-clinical and clinical studies. While several studies have discussed the inherent variability of SMFA within a study group, there has been no assessment of inter-laboratory variation. Therefore, there is currently no assurance that SMFA results are comparable between different studies. METHODS Mouse anti-Pfs25 monoclonal antibody (mAb, 4B7 mAb), rat anti-Pfs48/45 mAb (85RF45.1 mAb) and a human polyclonal antibody (pAb) collected from a malaria-exposed adult were tested at the same concentrations (6-94 μg/mL for 4B7, 1.2-31.3 μg/mL for 85RF45.1 and 23-630 μg/mL for human pAb) in two laboratories following their own standardized SMFA protocols. The mAbs and pAb, previously shown to have strong inhibition activities in the SMFA, were tested at three or four concentrations in two or three independent assays in each laboratory, and percent inhibition in mean oocyst intensity relative to a control in the same feed was determined in each feeding experiment. RESULTS Both monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies dose-dependently reduced oocyst intensity in all experiments performed at the two test sites. In both laboratories, the inter-assay variability in percent inhibition in oocyst intensity decreased at higher levels of inhibition, regardless of which antibody was tested. At antibody concentrations that led to a >80 % reduction in oocyst numbers, the inter-laboratory variations were in the same range compared with the inter-assay variation observed within a single laboratory, and the differences in best estimates from multiple feeds between the two laboratories were <5 percentage points. CONCLUSIONS This study confirms previous reports that the precision of the SMFA increases with increasing percent inhibition. Moreover, the variation between the two laboratories is not greater than the variation observed within a laboratory. The findings of this study provide guidance for comparison of SMFA data from different laboratories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kazutoyo Miura
- Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 12735 Twinbrook Parkway, Rockville, MD, USA.
| | - Will J R Stone
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Karin M Koolen
- TropIQ Health Science, Transistorweg 5, 6534 AT, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Bingbing Deng
- Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 12735 Twinbrook Parkway, Rockville, MD, USA
| | - Luwen Zhou
- Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 12735 Twinbrook Parkway, Rockville, MD, USA
| | - Geert-Jan van Gemert
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Emily Locke
- PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, 455 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20001, USA
| | - Merribeth Morin
- PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, 455 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20001, USA
| | - Teun Bousema
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Robert W Sauerwein
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Carole A Long
- Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 12735 Twinbrook Parkway, Rockville, MD, USA
| | - Koen J Dechering
- TropIQ Health Science, Transistorweg 5, 6534 AT, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
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Boes A, Spiegel H, Kastilan R, Bethke S, Voepel N, Chudobová I, Bolscher JM, Dechering KJ, Fendel R, Buyel JF, Reimann A, Schillberg S, Fischer R. Analysis of the dose-dependent stage-specific in vitro efficacy of a multi-stage malaria vaccine candidate cocktail. Malar J 2016; 15:279. [PMID: 27188716 PMCID: PMC4869186 DOI: 10.1186/s12936-016-1328-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2016] [Accepted: 05/04/2016] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The high incidence and mortality rate of malaria remains a serious burden for many developing countries, and a vaccine that induces durable and highly effective immune responses is, therefore, desirable. An earlier analysis of the stage-specific in vitro efficacy of a malaria vaccine candidate cocktail (VAMAX) considered the general properties of complex multi-component, multi-stage combination vaccines in rabbit immunization experiments using a hyper-immunization protocol featuring six consecutive boosts and a strong, lipopolysaccharide-based adjuvant. This follow-up study investigates the effect of antigen dose on the in vitro efficacy of the malaria vaccine cocktail using a conventional vaccination scheme (one prime and two boosts) and a human-compatible adjuvant (Alhydrogel®). Results IgG purified from rabbits immunized with 0.1, 1, 10 or 50 µg doses of the VAMAX vaccine candidate cocktail was analysed for total IgG and antigen-cocktail-specific titers. An increase in cocktail-specific titers was observed between 0.1 and 1 µg and between 10 and 50 µg, whereas no significant difference in titers was observed between 1 and 10 µg. Antigen component-specific antibody titers and stage-specific in vitro efficacy assays were performed with pooled IgG from animals immunized with 1 and 50 µg of the VAMAX cocktail. Here, the component-specific antibody levels showed clear dose dependency whereas the determined stage-specific in vitro IC50 values (as a correlate of efficacy) were only dependent on the titer amounts of stage-specific antibodies. Conclusions The stage-specific in vitro efficacy of the VAMAX cocktail strongly correlates with the corresponding antigen-specific titers, which for their part depend on the antigen dose, but there is no indication that the dose has an effect on the in vitro efficacy of the induced antibodies. A comparison of these results with those obtained in the previous hyper-immunization study (where higher levels of antigen-specific IgG were observed) suggests that there is a significant need to induce an immune response matching efficacy requirements, especially for a PfAMA1-based blood stage vaccine, by using higher doses, better adjuvants and/or better formulations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Boes
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME, Forckenbeckstrasse 6, 52074, Aachen, Germany
| | - Holger Spiegel
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME, Forckenbeckstrasse 6, 52074, Aachen, Germany.
| | - Robin Kastilan
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME, Forckenbeckstrasse 6, 52074, Aachen, Germany
| | - Susanne Bethke
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME, Forckenbeckstrasse 6, 52074, Aachen, Germany
| | - Nadja Voepel
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME, Forckenbeckstrasse 6, 52074, Aachen, Germany
| | - Ivana Chudobová
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME, Forckenbeckstrasse 6, 52074, Aachen, Germany
| | - Judith M Bolscher
- TropIQ Health Science, Geert Grooteplein 28, Huispost 268, 6525, GA, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Koen J Dechering
- TropIQ Health Science, Geert Grooteplein 28, Huispost 268, 6525, GA, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Rolf Fendel
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME, Forckenbeckstrasse 6, 52074, Aachen, Germany.,Institute for Molecular Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 1, 52074, Aachen, Germany
| | - Johannes F Buyel
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME, Forckenbeckstrasse 6, 52074, Aachen, Germany
| | - Andreas Reimann
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME, Forckenbeckstrasse 6, 52074, Aachen, Germany
| | - Stefan Schillberg
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME, Forckenbeckstrasse 6, 52074, Aachen, Germany
| | - Rainer Fischer
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME, Forckenbeckstrasse 6, 52074, Aachen, Germany.,Institute for Molecular Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 1, 52074, Aachen, Germany
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27
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Lucantoni L, Silvestrini F, Signore M, Siciliano G, Eldering M, Dechering KJ, Avery VM, Alano P. A simple and predictive phenotypic High Content Imaging assay for Plasmodium falciparum mature gametocytes to identify malaria transmission blocking compounds. Sci Rep 2015; 5:16414. [PMID: 26553647 PMCID: PMC4639769 DOI: 10.1038/srep16414] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2015] [Accepted: 10/14/2015] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes, specifically the mature stages, are the only malaria parasite stage in humans transmissible to the mosquito vector. Anti-malarial drugs capable of killing these forms are considered essential for the eradication of malaria and tools allowing the screening of large compound libraries with high predictive power are needed to identify new candidates. As gametocytes are not a replicative stage it is difficult to apply the same drug screening methods used for asexual stages. Here we propose an assay, based on high content imaging, combining “classic” gametocyte viability readout based on gametocyte counts with a functional viability readout, based on gametocyte activation and the discrimination of the typical gamete spherical morphology. This simple and rapid assay has been miniaturized to a 384-well format using acridine orange staining of wild type P. falciparum 3D7A sexual forms, and was validated by screening reference antimalarial drugs and the MMV Malaria Box. The assay demonstrated excellent robustness and ability to identify quality hits with high likelihood of confirmation of transmission reducing activity in subsequent mosquito membrane feeding assays.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leonardo Lucantoni
- Discovery Biology, Eskitis Institute for Drug Discovery, Griffith University, 4111 Nathan, Queensland, Australia
| | - Francesco Silvestrini
- Dipartimento di Malattie Infettive, Parassitarie ed Immunomediate, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena n. 299, 00161 Roma, Italy
| | - Michele Signore
- Dipartimento di Ematologia, Oncologia e Medicina Molecolare, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena n. 299, 00161 Roma, Italy
| | - Giulia Siciliano
- Dipartimento di Malattie Infettive, Parassitarie ed Immunomediate, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena n. 299, 00161 Roma, Italy
| | - Maarten Eldering
- TropIQ Health Sciences, Geert Grooteplein 28, huispost 268, 6525 GA Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Koen J Dechering
- TropIQ Health Sciences, Geert Grooteplein 28, huispost 268, 6525 GA Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Vicky M Avery
- Discovery Biology, Eskitis Institute for Drug Discovery, Griffith University, 4111 Nathan, Queensland, Australia
| | - Pietro Alano
- Dipartimento di Malattie Infettive, Parassitarie ed Immunomediate, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena n. 299, 00161 Roma, Italy
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28
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Boes A, Spiegel H, Voepel N, Edgue G, Beiss V, Kapelski S, Fendel R, Scheuermayer M, Pradel G, Bolscher JM, Behet MC, Dechering KJ, Hermsen CC, Sauerwein RW, Schillberg S, Reimann A, Fischer R. Analysis of a Multi-component Multi-stage Malaria Vaccine Candidate--Tackling the Cocktail Challenge. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0131456. [PMID: 26147206 PMCID: PMC4492585 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0131456] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2015] [Accepted: 06/02/2015] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Combining key antigens from the different stages of the P. falciparum life cycle in the context of a multi-stage-specific cocktail offers a promising approach towards the development of a malaria vaccine ideally capable of preventing initial infection, the clinical manifestation as well as the transmission of the disease. To investigate the potential of such an approach we combined proteins and domains (11 in total) from the pre-erythrocytic, blood and sexual stages of P. falciparum into a cocktail of four different components recombinantly produced in plants. After immunization of rabbits we determined the domain-specific antibody titers as well as component-specific antibody concentrations and correlated them with stage specific in vitro efficacy. Using purified rabbit immune IgG we observed strong inhibition in functional in vitro assays addressing the pre-erythrocytic (up to 80%), blood (up to 90%) and sexual parasite stages (100%). Based on the component-specific antibody concentrations we calculated the IC50 values for the pre-erythrocytic stage (17–25 μg/ml), the blood stage (40–60 μg/ml) and the sexual stage (1.75 μg/ml). While the results underline the feasibility of a multi-stage vaccine cocktail, the analysis of component-specific efficacy indicates significant differences in IC50 requirements for stage-specific antibody concentrations providing valuable insights into this complex scenario and will thereby improve future approaches towards malaria vaccine cocktail development regarding the selection of suitable antigens and the ratios of components, to fine tune overall and stage-specific efficacy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Boes
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME), Aachen, Germany
| | - Holger Spiegel
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME), Aachen, Germany
- * E-mail:
| | - Nadja Voepel
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME), Aachen, Germany
| | - Gueven Edgue
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME), Aachen, Germany
| | - Veronique Beiss
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME), Aachen, Germany
| | - Stephanie Kapelski
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME), Aachen, Germany
| | - Rolf Fendel
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME), Aachen, Germany
- RWTH Aachen University, Institute of Molecular Biotechnology, Aachen, Germany
| | | | - Gabriele Pradel
- RWTH Aachen University, Institute of Molecular Biotechnology, Aachen, Germany
| | | | - Marije C. Behet
- Radboud university medical center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | | | | | - Robert W. Sauerwein
- TropIQ Health Sciences, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Radboud university medical center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Stefan Schillberg
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME), Aachen, Germany
| | - Andreas Reimann
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME), Aachen, Germany
| | - Rainer Fischer
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME), Aachen, Germany
- RWTH Aachen University, Institute of Molecular Biotechnology, Aachen, Germany
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29
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Pett HE, Jansen PAM, Hermkens PHH, Botman PNM, Beuckens-Schortinghuis CA, Blaauw RH, Graumans W, van de Vegte-Bolmer M, Koolen KMJ, Rutjes FPJT, Dechering KJ, Sauerwein RW, Schalkwijk J. Novel pantothenate derivatives for anti-malarial chemotherapy. Malar J 2015; 14:169. [PMID: 25927675 PMCID: PMC4425855 DOI: 10.1186/s12936-015-0673-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2014] [Accepted: 04/04/2015] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Background A number of synthetic pantothenate derivatives, such as pantothenamides, are known to inhibit the growth of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, by interfering with the parasite Coenzyme A (CoA) biosynthetic pathway. The clinical use of pantothenamides is limited by their sensitivity to breakdown by ubiquitous human pantetheinases of the vanin family. Methods A number of pantothenate derivatives (pantothenones) with potent and specific inhibitory activity against mammalian vanins were tested in a proliferation assay of asexual P. falciparum blood stages alone, and in combination with pantothenamides. Results The vanin inhibitors were found to protect pantothenamides against breakdown by plasma vanins, thereby preserving the in vitro anti-malarial activity. Moreover, some of the vanin inhibitors showed in vitro anti-malarial activity in the low micromolar range. The most potent antimalarial in this series of compounds (RR8), was found to compete with pantothenate in a combination proliferation assay. No correlation, however, was found between anti-vanin and anti-malarial activity, nor was pantetheinase activity detected in P. falciparum extracts. Conclusions Growth inhibition is most likely due to competition with pantothenate, rather than pantetheinase inhibition. As vanin inhibitors of the pantothenone class are stable in biological fluids and are non-toxic to mammalian cells, they may represent novel pantothenate-based anti-malarials, either on their own or in combination with pantothenamides. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12936-015-0673-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Helmi E Pett
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
| | - Patrick A M Jansen
- Department of Dermatology and Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
| | | | | | | | | | - Wouter Graumans
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
| | - Marga van de Vegte-Bolmer
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
| | | | - Floris P J T Rutjes
- Radboud University Nijmegen, Institute for Molecules and Materials, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. .,Pansynt B V, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
| | | | - Robert W Sauerwein
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. .,TropIQ Health Sciences, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
| | - Joost Schalkwijk
- Department of Dermatology and Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. .,Pansynt B V, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
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30
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Bolscher JM, Koolen KMJ, van Gemert GJ, van de Vegte-Bolmer MG, Bousema T, Leroy D, Sauerwein RW, Dechering KJ. A combination of new screening assays for prioritization of transmission-blocking antimalarials reveals distinct dynamics of marketed and experimental drugs. J Antimicrob Chemother 2015; 70:1357-66. [PMID: 25667405 DOI: 10.1093/jac/dkv003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2014] [Accepted: 12/29/2014] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The development of drugs to reduce malaria transmission is an important part of malaria eradication plans. We set out to develop and validate a combination of new screening assays for prioritization of transmission-blocking molecules. METHODS We developed high-throughput assays for screening compounds against gametocytes, the parasite stages responsible for onward transmission to mosquitoes. An existing gametocyte parasitic lactate dehydrogenase (pLDH) assay was adapted for use in 384-well plates, and a novel homogeneous immunoassay to monitor the functional transition of female gametocytes into gametes was developed. A collection of 48 marketed and experimental antimalarials was screened and subsequently tested for impact on sporogony in Anopheles mosquitoes, to directly quantify the transmission-blocking properties of antimalarials in relation to their effects on gametocyte pLDH activity or gametogenesis. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS The novel screening assays revealed distinct stage-specific kinetics and dynamics of drug effects. Peroxides showed the most potent transmission-blocking effects, with an intermediate speed of action and IC50 values that were 20-40-fold higher than the IC50s against the asexual stages causing clinical malaria. Finally, the novel synthetic peroxide OZ439 appeared to be a promising drug candidate as it exerted gametocytocidal and transmission-blocking effects at clinically relevant concentrations.
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Affiliation(s)
- J M Bolscher
- TropIQ Health Sciences, Geert Grooteplein 28, huispost 268, 6525 GA, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - K M J Koolen
- TropIQ Health Sciences, Geert Grooteplein 28, huispost 268, 6525 GA, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - G J van Gemert
- Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | | | - T Bousema
- Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - D Leroy
- Medicines for Malaria Venture, Route de Pré-Bois 20, 1215 Geneva 15, Switzerland
| | - R W Sauerwein
- TropIQ Health Sciences, Geert Grooteplein 28, huispost 268, 6525 GA, Nijmegen, The Netherlands Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - K J Dechering
- TropIQ Health Sciences, Geert Grooteplein 28, huispost 268, 6525 GA, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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31
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Stone WJR, Churcher TS, Graumans W, van Gemert GJ, Vos MW, Lanke KHW, van de Vegte-Bolmer MG, Siebelink-Stoter R, Dechering KJ, Vaughan AM, Camargo N, Kappe SHI, Sauerwein RW, Bousema T. A scalable assessment of Plasmodium falciparum transmission in the standard membrane-feeding assay, using transgenic parasites expressing green fluorescent protein-luciferase. J Infect Dis 2014; 210:1456-63. [PMID: 24829466 DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jiu271] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The development of drugs and vaccines to reduce malaria transmission is an important part of eradication plans. The transmission-reducing activity (TRA) of these agents is currently determined in the standard membrane-feeding assay (SMFA), based on subjective microscopy-based readouts and with limitations in upscaling and throughput. METHODS Using a Plasmodium falciparum strain expressing the firefly luciferase protein, we present a luminescence-based approach to SMFA evaluation that eliminates the requirement for mosquito dissections in favor of a simple approach in which whole mosquitoes are homogenized and examined directly for luciferase activity. RESULTS Analysis of 6860 Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes across 68 experimental feeds shows that the luminescence assay was as sensitive as microscopy for infection detection. The mean luminescence intensity of individual and pooled mosquitoes accurately quantifies mean oocyst intensity and generates comparable TRA estimates. The luminescence assay presented here could increase SMFA throughput so that 10-30 experimental feeds could be evaluated in a single 96-well plate. CONCLUSIONS This new method of assessing Plasmodium infection and transmission intensity could expedite the screening of novel drug compounds, vaccine candidates, and sera from malaria-exposed individuals for TRA. Luminescence-based estimates of oocyst intensity in individual mosquitoes should be interpreted with caution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Will J R Stone
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Medical Center
| | - Thomas S Churcher
- MRC Centre for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London
| | - Wouter Graumans
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Medical Center
| | | | - Martijn W Vos
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Medical Center TropIQ Health Sciences, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Stefan H I Kappe
- Seattle Biomedical Research Institute Department of Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle
| | - Robert W Sauerwein
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Medical Center TropIQ Health Sciences, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Teun Bousema
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Medical Center Department of Immunology and Infection, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom
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Hupkes M, Sotoca AM, Hendriks JM, van Zoelen EJ, Dechering KJ. MicroRNA miR-378 promotes BMP2-induced osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal progenitor cells. BMC Mol Biol 2014; 15:1. [PMID: 24467925 PMCID: PMC3905160 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2199-15-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2013] [Accepted: 01/24/2014] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Background MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a family of small, non-coding single-stranded RNA molecules involved in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. As such, they are believed to play a role in regulating the step-wise changes in gene expression patterns that occur during cell fate specification of multipotent stem cells. Here, we have studied whether terminal differentiation of C2C12 myoblasts is indeed controlled by lineage-specific changes in miRNA expression. Results Using a previously generated RNA polymerase II (Pol-II) ChIP-on-chip dataset, we show differential Pol-II occupancy at the promoter regions of six miRNAs during C2C12 myogenic versus BMP2-induced osteogenic differentiation. Overexpression of one of these miRNAs, miR-378, enhances Alp activity, calcium deposition and mRNA expression of osteogenic marker genes in the presence of BMP2. Conclusions Our results demonstrate a previously unknown role for miR-378 in promoting BMP2-induced osteogenic differentiation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marlinda Hupkes
- Department of Cell & Applied Biology, Faculty of Science, Nijmegen Centre for Molecular Life Sciences (NCMLS), Radboud University Nijmegen, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
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Mentink A, Hulsman M, Groen N, Licht R, Dechering KJ, van der Stok J, Alves HA, Dhert WJ, van Someren EP, Reinders MJ, van Blitterswijk CA, de Boer J. Predicting the therapeutic efficacy of MSC in bone tissue engineering using the molecular marker CADM1. Biomaterials 2013; 34:4592-601. [DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2013.03.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2013] [Accepted: 03/01/2013] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
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34
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Hupkes M, Azevedo R, Jansen H, van Zoelen EJ, Dechering KJ. Identification of novel bacterial M.SssI DNA methyltransferase inhibitors. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2012; 18:348-55. [PMID: 23103529 DOI: 10.1177/1087057112465009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
DNA methylation is an important epigenetic regulator of gene expression. Abnormalities in DNA methylation patterns have been associated with various developmental and proliferative diseases, particularly cancer. Targeting DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) represents a promising strategy for the treatment of such diseases. Current DNMT inhibitors suffer important drawbacks with respect to their efficacy, specificity, and toxicity. In this study, we have set up a robust in vitro bacterial M.SssI DNMT activity assay to systematically screen a collection of 26 240 compounds that were predicted to compete with the S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) substrate of DNMT. This resulted in the identification of a novel set of structurally distinct inhibitors of M.SssI DNMT activity. Although molecular docking studies using an M.SssI homology model suggest that these compounds might compete with SAM binding, mode of activity (MoA) assays are still needed to confirm this hypothesis. Our set of novel M.SssI DNMT inhibitors, once confirmed in an orthogonal DNMT assay, may thus serve as a starting point to identify and characterize suitable lead candidates for further drug optimization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marlinda Hupkes
- Department of Cell and Applied Biology, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, 6525 AJ, Netherlands.
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Hupkes M, Jonsson MKB, Scheenen WJ, van Rotterdam W, Sotoca AM, van Someren EP, van der Heyden MAG, van Veen TA, van Ravestein-van Os RI, Bauerschmidt S, Piek E, Ypey DL, van Zoelen EJ, Dechering KJ. Epigenetics: DNA demethylation promotes skeletal myotube maturation. FASEB J 2011; 25:3861-72. [PMID: 21795504 DOI: 10.1096/fj.11-186122] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Mesenchymal progenitor cells can be differentiated in vitro into myotubes that exhibit many characteristic features of primary mammalian skeletal muscle fibers. However, in general, they do not show the functional excitation-contraction coupling or the striated sarcomere arrangement typical of mature myofibers. Epigenetic modifications have been shown to play a key role in regulating the progressional changes in transcription necessary for muscle differentiation. In this study, we demonstrate that treatment of murine C2C12 mesenchymal progenitor cells with 10 μM of the DNA methylation inhibitor 5-azacytidine (5AC) promotes myogenesis, resulting in myotubes with enhanced maturity as compared to untreated myotubes. Specifically, 5AC treatment resulted in the up-regulation of muscle genes at the myoblast stage, while at later stages nearly 50% of the 5AC-treated myotubes displayed a mature, well-defined sarcomere organization, as well as spontaneous contractions that coincided with action potentials and intracellular calcium transients. Both the percentage of striated myotubes and their contractile activity could be inhibited by 20 nM TTX, 10 μM ryanodine, and 100 μM nifedipine, suggesting that action potential-induced calcium transients are responsible for these characteristics. Our data suggest that genomic demethylation induced by 5AC overcomes an epigenetic barrier that prevents untreated C2C12 myotubes from reaching full maturity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marlinda Hupkes
- Department of Cell and Applied Biology, Faculty of Science, Nijmegen Centre for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Nijmegen, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
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Hulsman M, Mentink A, van Someren EP, Dechering KJ, de Boer J, Reinders MJ. Delineation of amplification, hybridization and location effects in microarray data yields better-quality normalization. BMC Bioinformatics 2010; 11:156. [PMID: 20346103 PMCID: PMC2857856 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2105-11-156] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2009] [Accepted: 03/26/2010] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Oligonucleotide arrays have become one of the most widely used high-throughput tools in biology. Due to their sensitivity to experimental conditions, normalization is a crucial step when comparing measurements from these arrays. Normalization is, however, far from a solved problem. Frequently, we encounter datasets with significant technical effects that currently available methods are not able to correct. Results We show that by a careful decomposition of probe specific amplification, hybridization and array location effects, a normalization can be performed that allows for a much improved analysis of these data. Identification of the technical sources of variation between arrays has allowed us to build statistical models that are used to estimate how the signal of individual probes is affected, based on their properties. This enables a model-based normalization that is probe-specific, in contrast with the signal intensity distribution normalization performed by many current methods. Next to this, we propose a novel way of handling background correction, enabling the use of background information to weight probes during summarization. Testing of the proposed method shows a much improved detection of differentially expressed genes over earlier proposed methods, even when tested on (experimentally tightly controlled and replicated) spike-in datasets. Conclusions When a limited number of arrays are available, or when arrays are run in different batches, technical effects have a large influence on the measured expression of genes. We show that a detailed modelling and correction of these technical effects allows for an improved analysis in these situations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc Hulsman
- Delft Bioinformatics Lab, Delft University of Technology, Mekelweg 4, Delft 2628 CD, The Netherlands.
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Piek E, Sleumer LS, van Someren EP, Heuver L, de Haan JR, de Grijs I, Gilissen C, Hendriks JM, van Ravestein-van Os RI, Bauerschmidt S, Dechering KJ, van Zoelen EJ. Osteo-transcriptomics of human mesenchymal stem cells: accelerated gene expression and osteoblast differentiation induced by vitamin D reveals c-MYC as an enhancer of BMP2-induced osteogenesis. Bone 2010; 46:613-27. [PMID: 19857615 DOI: 10.1016/j.bone.2009.10.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 78] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2009] [Revised: 10/16/2009] [Accepted: 10/17/2009] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
Bone marrow-derived human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) have the in vitro capacity to differentiate into osteoblasts, chondrocytes or adipocytes, depending on the applied stimulus. In order to identify novel regulators of osteogenesis in hMSCs, osteo-transcriptomics was performed whereby differentiation induced by dexamethasone (DEX), DEX+ bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2), and DEX+ Vitamin D(3) (1,25(OH)(2)D(3)) was studied over a course of 12 days. Microarray analysis revealed that 2095 genes were significantly regulated by DEX+ 1,25(OH)(2)D(3), of which 961 showed accelerated expression kinetics compared to treatment by DEX alone. The majority of these genes were accelerated 24-48 h after onset of osteogenic treatment. Gene ontology (GO) analysis of these 1,25(OH)(2)D(3)-accelerated genes indicated their involvement in biological processes related to cellular differentiation and cell cycle regulation. When compared to cells treated with DEX or DEX+BMP2, treatment with DEX+ 1,25(OH)(2)D(3) clearly accelerated osteoprogenitor commitment and osteoblast maturation, as measured by alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and calcification of the matrix. Cell cycle progression, as observed after initial growth arrest, was not significantly accelerated by 1,25(OH)(2)D(3) and was not required for onset and progression of osteogenesis. However, expression of c-Myc was accelerated by 1,25(OH)(2)D(3), and binding sites for c-MYC were enriched in promoters of genes accelerated by 1,25(OH)(2)D(3). Lentiviral overexpression of c-MYC strongly promoted DEX+ BMP2-induced osteoblast differentiation and matrix maturation. In conclusion, our studies show for the first time that 1,25(OH)(2)D(3) strongly accelerates expression of genes involved in differentiation of hMSCs and, moreover, identify c-MYC as a novel regulator of osteogenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ester Piek
- Department of Applied Biology, Nijmegen Centre for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Nijmegen, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
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Vaes BLT, Ducy P, Sijbers AM, Hendriks JMA, van Someren EP, de Jong NG, van den Heuvel ER, Olijve W, van Zoelen EJJ, Dechering KJ. Microarray analysis on Runx2-deficient mouse embryos reveals novel Runx2 functions and target genes during intramembranous and endochondral bone formation. Bone 2006; 39:724-38. [PMID: 16774856 DOI: 10.1016/j.bone.2006.04.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2006] [Revised: 04/10/2006] [Accepted: 04/20/2006] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
A major challenge in developmental biology is to correlate genome-wide gene expression modulations with developmental processes in vivo. In this study, we analyzed the role of Runx2 during intramembranous and endochondral bone development, by comparing gene expression profiles in 14.5 dpc wild-type and Runx2 (-/-) mice. A total of 1277, 606 and 492 transcripts were found to be significantly modulated by Runx2 in calvaria, forelimbs and hindlimbs, respectively. Bioinformatics analysis indicated that Runx2 not only controls the processes of osteoblast differentiation and chondrocyte maturation, but may also play a role in axon formation and hematopoietic cell commitment during bone development. A total of 41 genes are affected by the Runx2 deletion in both intramembranous and endochondral bone, indicating common pathways between these two developmental modes of bone formation. In addition, we identified genes that are specifically involved in endochondral ossification. In conclusion, our data show that a comparative genome-wide expression analysis of wild-type and mutant mouse models allows the examination of mutant phenotypes in complex tissues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bart L T Vaes
- Department of Applied Biology FNWI, Radboud University Nijmegen, Toernooiveld 1, 6525 ED Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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van Someren EP, Vaes BLT, Steegenga WT, Sijbers AM, Dechering KJ, Reinders MJT. Least absolute regression network analysis of the murine osteoblast differentiation network. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2005; 22:477-84. [PMID: 16332709 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/bti816] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
MOTIVATION We propose a reverse engineering scheme to discover genetic regulation from genome-wide transcription data that monitors the dynamic transcriptional response after a change in cellular environment. The interaction network is estimated by solving a linear model using simultaneous shrinking of the least absolute weights and the prediction error. RESULTS The proposed scheme has been applied to the murine C2C12 cell-line stimulated to undergo osteoblast differentiation. Results show that our method discovers genetic interactions that display significant enrichment of co-citation in literature. More detailed study showed that the inferred network exhibits properties and hypotheses that are consistent with current biological knowledge.
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Affiliation(s)
- E P van Someren
- Department of Mediametics, Delft University of Technology, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands.
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Abstract
Microarray studies are widely employed in the exploratory phase of the drug discovery process. Expectations raised by the genomics revolution led to the belief that they would rapidly lead to the identification of novel drug targets. However, a few basic questions were often overlooked. Are members of drugable gene families properly represented in the transcriptome? Or are they poorly expressed and below the detection limit of the microarray technology? This review explores the representation of drug targets and components of downstream cellular signaling pathways in the transcriptome. It appears that members of drugable gene families are underrepresented in the transcriptomes of non-pathological human tissues. But, they are represented at or above the expected frequency in the differential transcriptome (i.e. the set of genes that changes expression upon a change in cellular environment). Analysis of differential gene expression on a genome-wide scale will therefore give a comprehensive overview of cellular pathways and possible drug targets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Koen J Dechering
- N.V. Organon, Department of Target Discovery, Room RE2106, PO Box 20, 5340 BH Oss, The Netherlands.
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Vaes BLT, Dechering KJ, van Someren EP, Hendriks JMA, van de Ven CJJM, Feijen A, Mummery CL, Reinders MJT, Olijve W, van Zoelen EJJ, Steegenga WT. Microarray analysis reveals expression regulation of Wnt antagonists in differentiating osteoblasts. Bone 2005; 36:803-11. [PMID: 15820155 DOI: 10.1016/j.bone.2005.02.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 74] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2004] [Revised: 12/24/2004] [Accepted: 02/02/2005] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Wnt signaling has been implicated in regulating bone formation by controlling osteoblast proliferation and function. Although stabilization of beta-catenin by Wnt has been shown to increase alkaline phosphatase expression and osteoblast differentiation, the precise role of Wnt signaling during the process of osteoblast differentiation is largely unknown. In this study, we used microarray technology to investigate expression regulation of Wnt signaling components during in vitro osteoblast differentiation. Expression was analyzed during bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2)-induced osteoblast differentiation of murine C2C12 and MC3T3 cells and data were compared with expression in BMP2-treated NIH3T3 fibroblasts. During osteoblast differentiation, particularly strong expression regulation of the Wnt antagonists Sfrp2 (secreted frizzled related protein 2) and Wif1 (Wnt inhibitory factor 1) was observed in the late phase of differentiation. In situ expression analysis in murine tail vertebrae supported Wif1 expression during late phase bone cell differentiation, since Wif1 was found to be expressed in vivo in trabecular, but not in cortical bone. We further analyzed the effects of continuous activation of Wnt signaling by lithium chloride and observed that osteoblast differentiation was reduced, as measured by expression of osteoblast marker genes encoding alkaline phosphatase, osteocalcin, and osterix, as well as by the amount of calcium release. Taken together, our data indicate that endogenous expression of Wnt antagonists by osteoblasts provides a negative Wnt feedback loop which is essential in controlling osteoblast maturation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bart L T Vaes
- Department of Applied Biology, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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Dorssers LCJ, van Agthoven T, Brinkman A, Veldscholte J, Smid M, Dechering KJ. Breast cancer oestrogen independence mediated by BCAR1 or BCAR3 genes is transmitted through mechanisms distinct from the oestrogen receptor signalling pathway or the epidermal growth factor receptor signalling pathway. Breast Cancer Res 2004; 7:R82-92. [PMID: 15642172 PMCID: PMC1064102 DOI: 10.1186/bcr954] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2004] [Revised: 09/02/2004] [Accepted: 09/30/2004] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Introduction Tamoxifen is effective for endocrine treatment of oestrogen receptor-positive breast cancers but ultimately fails due to the development of resistance. A functional screen in human breast cancer cells identified two BCAR genes causing oestrogen-independent proliferation. The BCAR1 and BCAR3 genes both encode components of intracellular signal transduction, but their direct effect on breast cancer cell proliferation is not known. The aim of this study was to investigate the growth control mediated by these BCAR genes by gene expression profiling. Methods We have measured the expression changes induced by overexpression of the BCAR1 or BCAR3 gene in ZR-75-1 cells and have made direct comparisons with the expression changes after cell stimulation with oestrogen or epidermal growth factor (EGF). A comparison with published gene expression data of cell models and breast tumours is made. Results Relatively few changes in gene expression were detected in the BCAR-transfected cells, in comparison with the extensive and distinct differences in gene expression induced by oestrogen or EGF. Both BCAR1 and BCAR3 regulate discrete sets of genes in these ZR-75-1-derived cells, indicating that the proliferation signalling proceeds along distinct pathways. Oestrogen-regulated genes in our cell model showed general concordance with reported data of cell models and gene expression association with oestrogen receptor status of breast tumours. Conclusions The direct comparison of the expression profiles of BCAR transfectants and oestrogen or EGF-stimulated cells strongly suggests that anti-oestrogen-resistant cell proliferation is not caused by alternative activation of the oestrogen receptor or by the epidermal growth factor receptor signalling pathway.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lambert CJ Dorssers
- Department of Pathology, Josephine Nefkens Institute, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Ton van Agthoven
- Department of Pathology, Josephine Nefkens Institute, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Arend Brinkman
- Department of Pathology, Josephine Nefkens Institute, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Jos Veldscholte
- Department of Pathology, Josephine Nefkens Institute, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Marcel Smid
- Department of Pathology, Josephine Nefkens Institute, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
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de Jong DS, Steegenga WT, Hendriks JMA, van Zoelen EJJ, Olijve W, Dechering KJ. Regulation of Notch signaling genes during BMP2-induced differentiation of osteoblast precursor cells. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2004; 320:100-7. [PMID: 15207708 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2004.05.150] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2004] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Abstract
The bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-induced Smad signal transduction pathway is an important positive regulator of osteoblast differentiation. BMP and other members of the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) family have distinct effects on osteoblast differentiation, depending on cell type and cell differentiation status. In C2C12 mesenchymal cells, BMP-induced osteoblast differentiation can be blocked by TGF-beta. In a search for key regulators of osteoblast differentiation we have used microarray analysis to identify genes which are differentially regulated by BMP2 and TGF-beta. Within the first 24 h following the onset of differentiation, 61 BMP2-regulated genes were identified of which the BMP2 effect was counteracted by TGF-beta. The majority of these differentially expressed transcripts are related to signal transduction. Notably, our data show that three Notch signal transduction pathway genes, Lfng, Hey1, and Hes1, are differentially regulated by BMP2 and TGF-beta. This suggests that these genes might function as the focal point for interaction of Smad and Notch signaling during osteoblast differentiation.
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Affiliation(s)
- D S de Jong
- Department of Applied Biology, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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de Jong DS, Vaes BLT, Dechering KJ, Feijen A, Hendriks JMA, Wehrens R, Mummery CL, van Zoelen EJJ, Olijve W, Steegenga WT. Identification of novel regulators associated with early-phase osteoblast differentiation. J Bone Miner Res 2004; 19:947-58. [PMID: 15125793 DOI: 10.1359/jbmr.040216] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2003] [Revised: 11/27/2003] [Accepted: 01/20/2004] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
UNLABELLED Key regulatory components of the BMP-induced osteoblast differentiation cascade remain to be established. Microarray and subsequent expression analyses in mice identified two transcription factors, Hey1 and Tcf7, with in vitro and in vivo expression characteristics very similar to Cbfa1. Transfection studies suggest that Tcf7 modulates BMP2-induced osteoblast differentiation. This study contributes to a better definition of the onset of BMP-induced osteoblast differentiation. INTRODUCTION Elucidation of the genetic cascade guiding mesenchymal stem cells to become osteoblasts is of extreme importance for improving the treatment of bone-related diseases such as osteoporosis. The aim of this study was to identify regulators of the early phases of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)2-induced osteoblast differentiation. MATERIALS AND METHODS Osteoblast differentiation of mouse C2C12 cells was induced by treatment with BMP2, and regulation of gene expression was studied during the subsequent 24 h using high-density microarrays. The regulated genes were grouped by means of model-based clustering, and protein functions were assigned. Real-time quantitative RT-PCR analysis was used to validate BMP2-induced gene expression patterns in C2C12 cells. Osteoblast specificity was studied by comparing these expression patterns with those in C3H10T1/2 and NIH3T3 cells under similar conditions. In situ hybridization of mRNA in embryos at embryonic day (E)14.5 and E16.5 of gestation and on newborn mouse tails were used to study in vivo expression patterns. Cells constitutively expressing the regulated gene Tcf7 were used to investigate its influence on BMP-induced osteoblast differentiation. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS A total of 184 genes and expressed sequence tags (ESTs) were differentially expressed in the first 24 h after BMP2 treatment and grouped in subsets of immediate early, intermediate early, and late early response genes. Signal transduction regulatory factors mainly represented the subset of immediate early genes. Regulation of expression of these genes was direct, independent of de novo protein synthesis and independent of the cell type studied. The intermediate early and late early genes consisted primarily of genes related to processes that modulate morphology, basement membrane formation, and synthesis of extracellular calcified matrix. The late early genes require de novo protein synthesis and show osteoblast specificity. In vivo and in vitro experiments showed that the transcription factors Hey1 and Tcf7 exhibited expression characteristics and cell type specificity very similar to those of the osteoblast specific transcription factor Cbfa1, and constitutive expression of Tcf7 in C2C12 cells differentially regulated osteoblast differentiation marker genes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diana S de Jong
- Department of Applied Biology, University of Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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Korchynskyi O, Dechering KJ, Sijbers AM, Olijve W, ten Dijke P. Gene array analysis of bone morphogenetic protein type I receptor-induced osteoblast differentiation. J Bone Miner Res 2003; 18:1177-85. [PMID: 12854827 DOI: 10.1359/jbmr.2003.18.7.1177] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
UNLABELLED The genomic response to BMP was investigated by ectopic expression of activated BMP type I receptors in C2C12 myoblast using cDNA microarrays. Novel BMP receptor target genes with possible roles in inhibition of myoblast differentiation and stimulation of osteoblast differentiation were identified. INTRODUCTION Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) have an important role in controlling mesenchymal cell fate and mediate these effects by regulating gene expression. BMPs signal through three distinct specific BMP type I receptors (also termed activin receptor-like kinases) and their downstream nuclear effectors, termed Smads. The critical target genes by which activated BMP receptors mediate change cell fate are poorly characterized. MATERIALS AND METHODS We performed transcriptional profiling of C2C12 myoblasts differentiation into osteoblast-like cells by ectopic expression of three distinct constitutively active (ca)BMP type I receptors using adenoviral gene transfer. Cells were harvested 48 h after infection, which allowed detection of both early and late response genes. Expression analysis was performed using the mouse GEM1 microarray, which is comprised of approximately 8700 unique sequences. Hybridizations were performed in duplicate with a reverse fluor labeling. Genes were considered to be significantly regulated if the p value for differential expression was less than 0.01 and inverted expression ratios per duplicate successful reciprocal hybridizations differed by less than 25%. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Each of the three caBMP type I receptors stimulated equal levels of R-Smad phosphorylation and alkaline phosphatase activity, an early marker for osteoblast differentiation. Interestingly, all three type I receptors induced identical transcriptional profiles; 97 genes were significantly upregulated and 103 genes were downregulated. Many extracellular matrix genes were upregulated, muscle-related genes downregulated, and transcription factors/signaling components modulated. In addition to 41 expressed sequence tags without known function and a number of known BMP target genes, including PPAR-gamma and fibromodulin, a large number of novel BMP target genes with an annotated function were identified, including transcription factors HesR1, ITF-2, and ICSBP, apoptosis mediators DRP-1 death kinase and ZIP kinase, IkappaB alpha, Edg-2, ZO-1, and E3 ligase Dactylin. These target genes, some of them unexpected, offer new insights into how BMPs elicit biological effects, in particular into the mechanism of inhibition of myoblast differentiation and stimulation of osteoblast differentiation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olexander Korchynskyi
- Division of Cellular Biochemistry, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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Vaes BLT, Dechering KJ, Feijen A, Hendriks JMA, Lefèvre C, Mummery CL, Olijve W, van Zoelen EJJ, Steegenga WT. Comprehensive microarray analysis of bone morphogenetic protein 2-induced osteoblast differentiation resulting in the identification of novel markers for bone development. J Bone Miner Res 2002; 17:2106-18. [PMID: 12469905 DOI: 10.1359/jbmr.2002.17.12.2106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 77] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Osteoblasts are cells responsible for matrix deposition during bone development and although temporal expression of many genes has been related to osteoblast differentiation, a complete description of osteoblast-specific gene regulation will lead to a better understanding of osteoblast function. In this study, microarray technology was used to analyze gene expression on a broad scale during osteoblast differentiation. Expression analysis of 9596 sequences revealed 342 genes and expressed sequence tags (ESTs) to be modulated differentially during a time course experiment in which murine C2C12 mesenchymal progenitor cells were induced to differentiate into mature osteoblasts by treatment with bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2). By means of hierarchical clustering, these genes were grouped by similarities in their expression profiles, resulting in subsets of early, intermediate, and late response genes, which are representative of the distinct stages of osteoblast differentiation. To identify new bone markers, the bone specificity of the late response genes was determined by comparing BMP-induced expression in C2C12 and MC3T3 osteoblasts with that in NIH3T3 fibroblasts. This resulted in the identification of nine novel genes and ESTs that were induced specifically in osteoblasts, in addition to the well-known markers ALP and osteocalcin. For at least one of these novel genes, Wnt inhibitory factor 1, and two of the ESTs, expression in developing bone was verified in vivo by in situ hybridization of E16.5 mouse embryos. In conclusion, by a combination of in vitro and in vivo screening approaches, a set of new genes related to osteoblast differentiation and skeletal development has been identified.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bart L T Vaes
- Department of Applied Biology, University of Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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Dechering KJ, Kaan AM, Mbacham W, Wirth DF, Eling W, Konings RN, Stunnenberg HG. Isolation and functional characterization of two distinct sexual-stage-specific promoters of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Mol Cell Biol 1999; 19:967-78. [PMID: 9891033 PMCID: PMC116028 DOI: 10.1128/mcb.19.2.967] [Citation(s) in RCA: 78] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Transmission of malaria depends on the successful development of the sexual stages of the parasite within the midgut of the mosquito vector. The differentiation process leading to the production of the sexual stages is delineated by several developmental switches. Arresting the progression through this sexual differentiation pathway would effectively block the spread of the disease. The successful development of such transmission-blocking agents is hampered by the lack of a detailed understanding of the program of gene expression that governs sexual differentiation of the parasite. Here we describe the isolation and functional characterization of the Plasmodium falciparum pfs16 and pfs25 promoters, whose activation marks the developmental switches executed during the sexual differentiation process. We have studied the differential activation of the pfs16 and pfs25 promoters during intraerythrocytic development by transfection of P. falciparum and during gametogenesis and early sporogonic development by transfection of the related malarial parasite P. gallinaceum. Our data indicate that the promoter of the pfs16 gene is activated at the onset of gametocytogenesis, while the activity of the pfs25 promoter is induced following the transition to the mosquito vector. Both promoters have unusual DNA compositions and are extremely A/T rich. We have identified the regions in the pfs16 and pfs25 promoters that are essential for high transcriptional activity. Furthermore, we have identified a DNA-binding protein, termed PAF-1, which activates pfs25 transcription in the mosquito midgut. The data presented here shed the first light on the details of processes of gene regulation in the important human pathogen P. falciparum.
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Affiliation(s)
- K J Dechering
- Department of Molecular Biology, University of Nijmegen, 6525 ED Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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Dechering KJ, Cuelenaere K, Konings RN, Leunissen JA. Distinct frequency-distributions of homopolymeric DNA tracts in different genomes. Nucleic Acids Res 1998; 26:4056-62. [PMID: 9705519 PMCID: PMC147789 DOI: 10.1093/nar/26.17.4056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 70] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The unusual base composition of the genome of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum prompted us to systematically investigate the occurrence of homopolymeric DNA tracts in the P. falciparum genome and, for comparison, in the genomes of Homo sapiens , Saccharomyces cerevisiae , Caenorhabditis elegans , Arabidopsis thaliana , Escherichia coli and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Comparison of theobserved frequencies with the frequencies as expected for random DNA revealed that homopolymeric (dA:dT) tracts occur well above chance in the eukaryotic genome. In the majority of these genomes, (dA:dT) tract overrepresentation proved to be an exponential function of the tract length. (dG:dC) tract overrepresentation was absent or less pronounced in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes. On the basis of our results, we propose that homopolymeric (dA:dT) tracts are expanded via replication slippage. This slippage-mediated expansion does not operate on tracts with lengths below a critical threshold of 7-10 bp.
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Affiliation(s)
- K J Dechering
- Department of Molecular Biology and CAOS/CAMM Center, University of Nijmegen, Toernooiveld 1,6525 ED Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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Dechering KJ, Thompson J, Dodemont HJ, Eling W, Konings RN. Developmentally regulated expression of pfs16, a marker for sexual differentiation of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Mol Biochem Parasitol 1997; 89:235-44. [PMID: 9364968 DOI: 10.1016/s0166-6851(97)00123-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
Sexual differentiation is essential for the transmission of Plasmodium to mosquitoes and therefore, for the spread of malaria. The molecular mechanisms underlying sexual differentiation are poorly understood but may be elucidated by a detailed study of the regulation of expression of sexual stage specific genes. In the present work we describe the differential expression of the gene encoding the sexual stage specific protein, Pfs16. We have conducted a comparative analysis of pfs16 promoter activity, RNA levels and the rate of de novo protein synthesis during development of Plasmodium falciparum. Furthermore, we have determined the pattern of expression of pfs16 transcripts at the single cell level by in situ hybridisation. We show that the expression of pfs16 is induced immediately following the invasion of a red blood cell in sexually committed ring stage parasites and continues throughout gametocytogenesis and in macrogametes. The expression of pfs16 is regulated at the level of transcription initiation and modulated by a post-transcriptional process. These results demonstrate that the expression of the pfs16 gene is the earliest event in the sexual differentiation process of P. falciparum described to date.
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MESH Headings
- Animals
- Antigens, Protozoan/biosynthesis
- Antigens, Protozoan/genetics
- Erythrocytes/parasitology
- Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental/genetics
- Genes, Protozoan/genetics
- Humans
- Membrane Proteins/biosynthesis
- Membrane Proteins/genetics
- Plasmodium falciparum/genetics
- Plasmodium falciparum/growth & development
- Promoter Regions, Genetic/genetics
- RNA Processing, Post-Transcriptional
- RNA, Messenger/analysis
- RNA, Messenger/metabolism
- RNA, Protozoan/analysis
- RNA, Protozoan/metabolism
- Sex Differentiation/genetics
- Transcription, Genetic/genetics
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Affiliation(s)
- K J Dechering
- Department of Molecular Biology, University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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Flik G, Van Der Velden JA, Dechering KJ, Verbost PM, Schoenmakers TJM, Kolar ZI, Bonga SEW. Ca2+ and Mg2+ transport in gills and gut of tilapia,Oreochromis mossambicus: A review. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 1993. [DOI: 10.1002/jez.1402650404] [Citation(s) in RCA: 70] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
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