Publications by authors named "Michael J Kirisits"

Article Synopsis
  • Toxoplasmosis is a serious health issue with limited effective treatments that often have toxic side effects, necessitating the search for better drugs.* -
  • Researchers tested 53 compounds targeting Toxoplasma gondii enoyl reductase (TgENR) and identified six promising candidates that are effective against the parasite without harming host cells.* -
  • The structure of one candidate compound bound to TgENR has been determined, revealing important insights for developing more effective treatments for Toxoplasmosis.*
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Background: Worldwide, approximately two billion people are chronically infected with Toxoplasma gondii with largely unknown consequences.

Methods: To better understand long-term effects and pathogenesis of this common, persistent brain infection, mice were infected at a time in human years equivalent to early to mid adulthood and studied 5-12 months later. Appearance, behavior, neurologic function and brain MRIs were studied.

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Background: Primary Toxoplasma gondii infection during pregnancy can be transmitted to the fetus. At birth, infected infants may have intracranial calcification, hydrocephalus, and retinochoroiditis, and new ocular lesions can occur at any age after birth. Not all children who acquire infection in utero develop these clinical signs of disease.

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Recent studies have demonstrated that submicromolar concentrations of the biocide triclosan arrest the growth of the apicomplexan parasites Plasmodium falciparum and Toxoplasma gondii and inhibit the activity of the apicomplexan enoyl acyl carrier protein reductase (ENR). The crystal structures of T. gondii and P.

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The protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii is the causative agent of one of the most widespread parasitic infections of man and is a leading cause of congenital neurological birth defects and the third most common cause of food-borne deaths in the United States. Despite this, to date no drugs are available that provide a fully effective treatment. Recently, the antibacterial agent triclosan was shown to inhibit the fatty-acid biosynthesis pathway in T.

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The triazine WR99210 [4,6-diamino-1,2-dihydro-2,2-dimethyl-1-(2,4,5-trichlorophenoxypropyloxy)-1,3,5 triazine] inhibits Toxoplasma gondii in vitro at nanomolar levels (P < 0.05). The 50% inhibitory concentration (IC(50)) was approximately 50 nM.

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The structure and location of Toxoplasma gondii apicoplasts were examined in intermediate and definitive hosts and shown to vary in a stage-specific manner. Immunocytochemistry and electron microscopy studies were used to identify changes in the morphology of apicoplasts and in their enoyl reductase (ENR) content during asexual and sexual development. Apicoplasts in tachyzoites were small, multimembraned organelles anterior to nuclei that divided and segregated with the nuclei during endodyogeny.

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Resistance to murine toxoplasmic encephalitis has been precisely and definitively mapped to the L(d) class I gene. Consistent with this, CD8(+) T cells can adoptively transfer resistance to toxoplasmic encephalitis. However, cytotoxic CD8(+) T cells, capable of killing class I-matched, infected target cells, are generated during the course of Toxoplasma gondii infection even in mice lacking the L(d) gene.

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The shikimate pathway is essential for production of a plethora of aromatic compounds in plants, bacteria, and fungi. Seven enzymes of the shikimate pathway catalyze sequential conversion of erythrose 4-phosphate and phosphoenol pyruvate to chorismate. Chorismate is then used as a substrate for other pathways that culminate in production of folates, ubiquinone, napthoquinones, and the aromatic amino acids tryptophan, phenylalanine, and tyrosine.

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