Ana Armada

The Role of Efflux Pumps in Schistosoma mansoni Praziquantel Resistant Phenotype.

Background Schistosomiasis is a neglected disease caused by a trematode of the genus Schistosoma that is second only to malaria in public health significance in Africa, South America, and Asia. Praziquantel (PZQ) is the drug of choice to treat this disease due to its high cure rates and no significant side effects. However, in the last years increasingly cases of tolerance to PZQ have been reported, which has caused growing concerns regarding the emergency of resistance to this drug. Methodology/Principal Findings Here we describe the selection of a parasitic strain that has a stable resistance phenotype to PZQ. It has been reported that drug resistance in helminths might involve efflux pumps such as members of ATP-binding cassette transport proteins, including P-glycoprotein and multidrug resistance-associated protein families. Here we evaluate the role of efflux pumps in Schistosoma mansoni resistance to PZQ, by comparing the efflux pumps activity in susceptible and resistant strains. The evaluation of the efflux activity was performed by an ethidium bromide accumulation assay in presence and absence of Verapamil. The role of efflux pumps in resistance to PZQ was further investigated comparing the response of susceptible and resistant parasites in the absence and presence of different doses of Verapamil, in an ex vivo assay, and these results were further reinforced through the comparison of the expression levels of SmMDR2 RNA by RT-PCR. Conclusions/Significance This work strongly suggests the involvement of Pgp-like transporters SMDR2 in Praziquantel drug resistance in S. mansoni. Low doses of Verapamil successfully reverted drug resistance. Our results might give an indication that a combination therapy with PZQ and natural or synthetic Pgp modulators can be an effective strategy for the treatment of confirmed cases of resistance to PZQ in S. mansoni.

Biological Evaluation of Products Formed from the Irradiation of Chlorpromazine with a 266 nm Laser Beam

Varying concentrations of Chlorpromazine Hydrochloride (CPZ) were exposed to a 266 nm laser beam for varying periods of time ranging from 4 to 24 hrs and the products of irradiation were evaluated for activity against a panel of bacteria that consisted of representatives of Gram-positives and Gram-negatives that expressed different degrees of efflux pump activity, and compared to the parental unexposed compound with prolonged irradiation, whereas the antibacterial activity of the product against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli strains was many folds greater, no activity against their efflux pumps was noted. The activity of the products of irradiation against Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis was slight. However, the products of prolonged irradiation of CPZ produced increasingly significant concentration dependent inhibition of efflux by the Salmonella strains.

Direct Detection by the Xpert MTB/RIF Assay and Characterization of Multi and Poly Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa.

Background This study aimed to evaluate the usefulness of the Xpert MTB/RIF assay for the rapid direct detection of M. tuberculosis complex (MTBC) strains and rifampicin resistance associated mutations in a resource-limited setting such as Guinea-Bissau and its implications in the management of tuberculosis (TB) and drug resistant tuberculosis, complementing the scarce information on resistance and genotypic diversity of MTBC strains in this West African country. Methods and Results This cross-sectional prospective study included 100 consecutive TB patients with positive acid-fast smears at two months of anti-tuberculosis treatment or in a re-treatment situation, between May and December 2012. Resistance to rifampicin was detected using the GeneXpert system and the Xpert MTB/RIF assay. MTBC isolates obtained with the BACTEC MGIT 960 system were tested for susceptibility to first- and second-line anti-tuberculosis drugs. Overall, the prevalence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) was found to be 9 cases. Of these, 67% (6 patients) of confirmed MDR-TB cases had no past history of TB treatment and 33% (3 patients) were previously treated cases. Extensively drug-resistant TB was not found. Molecular typing of the MDR-TB strains revealed recent transmission patterns of imported MDR strains. Conclusions The Xpert MTB/RIF assay was reliable for the detection of rifampicin resistant MTBC strains directly from sputum samples of patients undergoing first-line treatment for two months, being more trustworthy than the simple presence of acid-fast bacilli in the smear. Its implementation is technically simple, does not require specialized laboratory infrastructures and is suitable for resource-limited settings when a regular source of electricity and maintenance is available as well as financial and operation sustainability is guaranteed by the health authorities. A high prevalence of MDR-TB among patients at risk of MDR-TB after two months of first-line treatment was found, in support of the WHO recommendations for its use in the management of this risk group.

Generation of an antibody that recognizes Plasmodium chabaudi cysteine protease (chabaupain-1) in both sexual and asexual parasite life cycle and evaluation of chabaupain-1 vaccine potential.

Malaria cysteine proteases have been shown to be immunogenic and are being exploited as serodiagnostic markers, drug and vaccine targets. Several Plasmodium spp. cysteine proteases have been described and the best characterized of these are the falcipains, a family of papain-family enzymes. Falcipain-2 and falcipain-3 act in concert with other proteases to hydrolyze host erythrocyte hemoglobin in the parasite food vacuole. Falcipain-1 has less similarity to the other falcipains and its physiological role in parasite asexual blood stage still remains uncertain. Immunolocalization studies using an antibody developed against the Plasmodium chabaudi recombinant chabaupain-1, the falcipain-1 ortholog, were performed confirming its cellular localization in both erythrocyte and mosquito ookinete stage. Immunostaining of chabaupain-1 preferentially in apical portion of parasite ookinete suggests that this protease may be related with parasite egression from mosquito midgut. Immune responses to chabaupain-1 were evaluated using two different adjuvants, chitosan nanoparticles and hydroxide aluminum. Mice immunized with the recombinant protein alone or in association with nanoparticles were challenged with P. chabaudi showing that immunization with the recombinant protein confers partial protection to blood stage infection in BALB/c animal model.

D1S80 Locus Polymorphism in a Population Sample from Lisbon

The amplification of the D1S80 locus, a variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) locus, by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), (Saiki et al, 1985) is an effective tool to forensic analysis (Budowle et al, 1995).

Fluorimetric Methods for Analysis of Permeability, Drug Transport Kinetics, and Inhibition of the ABCB1 Membrane Transporter

The cell membrane P-glycoprotein (P-gp; MDR1, ABCB1) is an energy-dependent efflux pump that belongs to the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) family of transporters, and has been associated with drug resistance in eukaryotic cells. Multidrug resistance (MDR) is related to an increased expression and function of the ABCB1 (P-gp) efflux pump that often causes chemotherapeutic failure in cancer. Modulators of this efflux pump, such as the calcium channel blocker verapamil (VP) and cyclosporine A (CypA), can reverse the MDR phenotype but in vivo studies have revealed disappointing results due to adverse side effects. Currently available methods are unable to visualize and assess in a real-time basis the effectiveness of ABCB1 inhibitors on the uptake and efflux of ABCB1 substrates. However, predicting and testing ABCB1 modulation activity using living cells during drug development are crucial. The use of ABCB1-transfected mouse T-lymphoma cell line to study the uptake/efflux of fluorescent probes like ethidium bromide (EB), rhodamine 123 (Rh-123), and carbocyanine dye DiOC2, in the presence and absence of potential inhibitors, is currently used in our laboratories to evaluate the ability of a drug to inhibit ABCB1-mediated drug accumulation and efflux. Here we describe and compare three in vitro methods, which evaluate the permeability, transport kinetics of fluorescent substrates, and inhibition of the ABCB1 efflux pump by drugs of chemical synthesis or extracted from natural sources, using model cancer cell lines overexpressing this transporter, namely (1) real-time fluorimetry that assesses the accumulation of ethidium bromide, (2) flow cytometry, and (3) fluorescent microscopy using rhodamine 123 and DiOC2.

Generation and biological evaluation of the products formed from the exposure of Phenothiazine to a 266nm laser beam

Phenothiazine exposed to white light or UV radiation undergoes a variety of reactions that result in the degradation of the parental compound and the formation of new species. Chlorpromazine exposed to the 266 nm laser beam of given energy levels yielded species derived from it, whose number increased with the exposure duration. At distinct time intervals the irradiation products were evaluated by spectrophotometry between 200-1500 nm, Thin Layer Chromatography, and for antimicrobial activity of Chlorpromazine against different test organisms such as Staphylococcus aureus.