Ring stage dormancy of Plasmodium falciparum tolerant to artemisinin and its analogues - A genetically regulated "Sleeping Beauty".

The appearance in 2008 in western Cambodia of Plasmodium falciparum tolerant to artemisinin, defined by longer parasite clearance time following drug administration and in vitro by a slightly higher survival rate of the ring stage after a 3-h treatment with 700 nM artemisinin (or analogues, collectively termed ART), has raised concerns of the possible loss of this frontline antimalarial [used in the form of an artemisinin combination therapy (ACT)], with its low IC value against the ring stage and pleiotropic pro-drug/poison property. The key genetic marker of ART tolerance phenotype is a number of non-synonymous mutations in Pfkelch13 propeller domain. This results in defective assembly at the ring stage of a cytostome structure located at cytoplasmic side of the parasite membrane required for invagination of a double-membrane endosome carrying host cytosol haemoglobin to the digestive vacuole.

Lumefantrine attenuates Plasmodium falciparum artemisinin resistance during the early ring stage.

Emerging artemisinin resistance in Plasmodium falciparum malaria has the potential to become a global public health crisis. In Southeast Asia, this phenomenon clinically manifests in the form of delayed parasite clearance following artemisinin treatment. Reduced artemisinin susceptibility is limited to the early ring stage window, which is sufficient to allow parasites to survive the short half-life of artemisinin exposure.

Universal scanning-free initiation of eukaryote protein translation-a new normal.

A unique feature of eukaryote initiation of protein translation is a so-called scanning of 5'-untranslated region (5'-UTR) by a ribosome initiation complex to enable bound Met-tRNA access to the initiation codon located further downstream. Here, we propose a universal scanning-free translation initiation model that is independent of 5'-UTR length and applicable to both 5'-mG (capped) and uncapped mRNAs.

Plug for the parasitophorous duct: a solution of two conundra.

Background: We present two conundra in the biology of intraerythrocytic malaria parasite: how an apparent open parasitophorous duct provide direct access of only a select set of serum proteins to the parasitophorous vacuole, and how proteases mediate membrane lysis to allow merozoite egress.

Solution: We posit the existence of a parasitophorous vacuolar duct plug that is originally formed from a tight junction (or parts thereof) between merozoite apical surface and red blood cell plasma membrane, which by moving over the parasite surface towards the posterior end draws the parasite into the host cell interior, and by remaining at the passage orifice provides a location of transporter(s) for import of serum proteins into parasitophorous vacuole and an opening for merozoite egress upon its dissolution/dismantling through protease(s) action.

Conclusion: This notion obviates the need of a distinct intact parasitophorous vacuolar membrane, which in the proposed model is an extension of the red blood cell membrane but still forms an intracellular compartment for parasite growth and development.

Overexpression of plasmepsin II and plasmepsin III does not directly cause reduction in Plasmodium falciparum sensitivity to artesunate, chloroquine and piperaquine.

Artemisinin derivatives and their partner drugs in artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs) have played a pivotal role in global malaria mortality reduction during the last two decades. The loss of artemisinin efficacy due to evolving drug-resistant parasites could become a serious global health threat. Dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine is a well tolerated and generally highly effective ACT.

Fitness Loss under Amino Acid Starvation in Artemisinin-Resistant Plasmodium falciparum Isolates from Cambodia.

Artemisinin is the most rapidly effective drug for Plasmodium falciparum malaria treatment currently in clinical use. Emerging artemisinin-resistant parasites pose a great global health risk. At present, the level of artemisinin resistance is still relatively low with evidence pointing towards a trade-off between artemisinin resistance and fitness loss.

Comparative genome analysis between Southeast Asian and South American Zika viruses.

Objective: To understand the cause for the differences between potentially mild Southeast Asian and the more pathogenic ZIKV in South America.

Methods: A comparative genomic analysis was performed to determine putative causations stemming from ZIKV.

Results: Phylogenetic analyses integrating geographical and time factors revealed that Southeast Asian ZIKV might not be the direct source of South American outbreaks as previously speculated.

Plasmodium falciparum malaria: Convergent evolutionary trajectories towards delayed clearance following artemisinin treatment.

Malaria is a major global health challenge with 300million new cases every year. The most effective regimen for treating Plasmodium falciparum malaria is based on artemisinin and its derivatives. The drugs are highly effective, resulting in rapid clearance of parasites even in severe P.

Comparative genome-wide analysis and evolutionary history of haemoglobin-processing and haem detoxification enzymes in malarial parasites.

Background: Malaria parasites have evolved a series of intricate mechanisms to survive and propagate within host red blood cells. Intra-erythrocytic parasitism requires these organisms to digest haemoglobin and detoxify iron-bound haem. These tasks are executed by haemoglobin-specific proteases and haem biocrystallization factors that are components of a large multi-subunit complex.

Synergism of antimalarial antibiotics with hydrogen peroxide in inhibiting Plasmodium falciparum growth in culture.

Although morbidity and mortality from malaria have steadily decreased worldwide, the ever present menace of the appearance of Plasmodium falciparum resistant to all antimalarials in current use, including most recently to artemisinin and its analogs, is of utmost concern, especially when development of new and affordable antimalarials has not kept abreast of this phenomenon. An alternative approach is to identify synergistic drug combinations, which would allow employment of otherwise non-efficacious antimalarial drugs. This study demonstrates that combinations of the chemical oxidant hydrogen hydroxide with antimalarial antibiotics targeting parasite mitochondrial and apicoplast ribosomes, which normally produce 'delayed-death' of parasites, act synergistically to inhibit P.

Origin of robustness in generating drug-resistant malaria parasites.

Biological robustness allows mutations to accumulate while maintaining functional phenotypes. Despite its crucial role in evolutionary processes, the mechanistic details of how robustness originates remain elusive. Using an evolutionary trajectory analysis approach, we demonstrate how robustness evolved in malaria parasites under selective pressure from an antimalarial drug inhibiting the folate synthesis pathway.

Role of altholactone in inducing type II apoptosis signalling pathway and expression of cancer-related genes in cervical carcinoma HeLa cell line.

Goniothalamus species (Annonaceae) is a shrub that grows in the rainforest of tropical Asia. Several compounds have been isolated and exhibit the potential use for cancer treatment. In this work, altholactone isolated from Goniothalamus macrophyllus was investigated for its cytotoxicity, apoptosis signalling and the expression of cancer-related genes in the cervical carcinoma HeLa cells.

Plasma membrane Ca(2+)-ATPase sulfhydryl modifications: implication for oxidized red cell.

A common perturbation found in cells under oxidative stress is alteration in cellular Ca2+ homeostasis. In order to understand the effects of such oxidative damage, human red cell plasma membrane Ca(2+)-ATPase (PMCA) was studied by measuring PMCA activity, both in the presence and absence of calmodulin (CaM), following treatment with sulfhydryl agents, N-ethylmaleimide, iodoacetate and diamide. PMCA activity of washed red cell membrane was measured by coupling with pyruvate kinase, using phosphoenolpyruvate as substrate, and lactate dehydrogenase to convert pyruvate to lactate employing beta-NADH as co-factor.

Alpha-hemoglobin stabilizing protein: molecular function and clinical correlation.

The discovery of alpha-hemoglobin stabilizing protein (AHSP), a chaperone for free alpha-hemoglobin (alpha-Hb), has provided a satisfactory solution to the perplexing problem of balanced globin levels for Hb production in erythroid cells in the face of a two-fold excess of alpha-globin to beta-globin gene dosage. Unmatched alpha-Hb is unstable and precipitates onto membranes, where the released heme exerts oxidative damages resulting in ineffective erythropoiesis and hemolytic anemia, the underlying causes of pathology in the hereditary anemia of beta-thalassemia. The interaction of alpha-Hb with AHSP involves surfaces normally employed in binding to beta-Hb.

Mechanisms of the action of povidone-iodine against human and avian influenza A viruses: its effects on hemagglutination and sialidase activities.

Background: Influenza virus infection causes significant morbidity and mortality and has marked social and economic impacts throughout the world. The influenza surface glycoproteins, hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA), act cooperatively to support efficient influenza A virus replication and provide the most important targets for anti-influenza chemotherapy. In this study, povidone-iodine (PVP-I), which has a broad-spectrum microbicidal property, was examined for its inhibitory effects against influenza virus infection in MDCK cells and the mechanisms of PVP-I action on HA and NA were revealed.

Simple, efficient, and cost-effective multiplex genotyping with matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry of hemoglobin beta gene mutations.

A number of common mutations in the hemoglobin beta (HBB) gene cause beta-thalassemia, a monogenic disease with high prevalence in certain ethnic groups. As there are 30 HBB variants that cover more than 99.5% of HBB mutant alleles in the Thai population, an efficient and cost-effective screening method is required.

A genetically hard-wired metabolic transcriptome in Plasmodium falciparum fails to mount protective responses to lethal antifolates.

Genome sequences of Plasmodium falciparum allow for global analysis of drug responses to antimalarial agents. It was of interest to learn how DNA microarrays may be used to study drug action in malaria parasites. In one large, tightly controlled study involving 123 microarray hybridizations between cDNA from isogenic drug-sensitive and drug-resistant parasites, a lethal antifolate (WR99210) failed to over-produce RNA for the genetically proven principal target, dihydrofolate reductase-thymidylate synthase (DHFR-TS).

Analysis of N-glycans in embryonated chicken egg chorioallantoic and amniotic cells responsible for binding and adaptation of human and avian influenza viruses.

The initial step essential in influenza virus infection is specific binding of viral hemagglutinin to host cell-surface glycan receptors. Influenza A virus specificity for the host is mediated by viral envelope hemagglutinin, that binds to receptors containing glycans with terminal sialic acids. Human viruses preferentially bind to alpha2-->6 linked sialic acids on receptors of host cells, whereas avian viruses are specific for the alpha2-->3 linkage on the target cells.

Interactions between antiplasmodial 3,6-diamino-1'-dimethyl-9-anilinoacridine and hematin and concanamycin A.

Antiplasmodial 9-anilinoacridine derivatives exert their effects either by inhibiting DNA topoisomerase (topo) II or by interfering with heme crystallization within the parasite acidic food vacuole. Previous studies have shown that analogs of 9-anilinoacridine containing 3,6-diamino substitutions (in the acridine ring) inhibit Plasmodium falciparum DNA topo II in situ, whereas those with a 3,6-diCl substitution act by inhibiting beta-hematin formation, a property also seen with 3,6-diamino-1'-dimethyl-9-anilinoacridine (DDAA). To understand this seemingly anomalous property of DDAA, studies of its interaction with hematin and localization within the parasite food vacuole were undertaken.

Inhibition of alpha-globin gene expression by RNAi.

RNA interference (RNAi), a process by which target messenger RNA (mRNA) is cleaved by small interfering complementary RNA (siRNA), is widely used for investigations of regulation of gene expression in various cells. In this study, siRNA complementary to 5' region of exon II of alpha-globin mRNA was examined for its role in erythroid colony forming cells (ECFCs) isolated from normal peripheral blood donor. On day 6 of cell culture, 1x10(6) ECFCs were transfected with lipofectamine-containing alpha-globin specific siRNA.

alpha/beta-Globin mRNA ratio determination by multiplex quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction as an indicator of globin gene function.

Objectives: Imbalance in alpha/beta-globin chains is an important determinant of thalassemia disease severity. This study examined the relationship between alpha/beta-globin mRNA ratio and disease severity in various thalassemia genotypes.

Design And Methods: alpha- and beta-globin mRNA contents of red blood cells of 75 alpha- and 32 beta-thalassemia subjects (5 with beta(0)-thalassemia/Hb E) and 14 normal controls were measured using multiplex quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR).

Artemisinin effectiveness in erythrocytes is reduced by heme and heme-containing proteins.

Artemisinin loses its antimalarial activity on prolonged exposure to erythrocytes, especially alpha-thalassemic erythrocytes. In this report, we show that the major artemisinin-inactivating factor in cytosol of normal erythrocytes was heat-labile but a heat-stable factor from alpha-thalassemic cells also played a significant role in reducing artemisinin effectiveness, which was shown to be heme released from hemoglobin (Hb). Studies of fractionated lysate from genetically normal erythrocytes revealed that the protein fraction with molecular weight greater than 100 kDa was capable of reducing artemisinin effectiveness more readily than lower molecular weight fraction.

Protection of cells from oxidative stress by microsomal glutathione transferase 1.

Rat liver microsomal glutathione transferase 1 (MGST1) is a membrane-bound enzyme that displays both glutathione transferase and glutathione peroxidase activities. We hypothesized that physiologically relevant levels of MGST1 is able to protect cells from oxidative damage by lowering intracellular hydroperoxide levels. Such a role of MGST1 was studied in human MCF7 cell line transfected with rat liver mgst1 (sense cell) and with antisense mgst1 (antisense cell).

Antimalarial activity of concanamycin A alone and in combination with pyronaridine.

Concanamycin A, a macrolide antibiotic inhibitor of vacuolar H+-ATPase derived from Streptomyces sp, inhibited Plasmodium falciparum K1 growth in culture with an IC500 value of 0.2 nM. It exhibited an additive effect when tested together with the antimalarial pyronaridine.