Nina N. McNair

Validation of IMP dehydrogenase inhibitors in a mouse model of cryptosporidiosis

ABSTRACT Cryptosporidium parasites are a major cause of diarrhea and malnutrition in the developing world, a frequent cause of waterborne disease in the developed world, and a potential bioterrorism agent. Currently, available treatment is limited, and Cryptosporidium drug discovery remains largely unsuccessful. As a result, the pharmacokinetic properties required for in vivo efficacy have not been established. We have been engaged in a Cryptosporidium drug discovery program targeting IMP dehydrogenase (CpIMPDH). Here, we report the activity of eight potent and selective inhibitors of CpIMPDH in the interleukin-12 (IL-12) knockout mouse model, which mimics acute human cryptosporidiosis. Two compounds displayed significant antiparasitic activity, validating CpIMPDH as a drug target. The best compound, P131 (250 mg/kg of body weight/day), performed equivalently to paromomycin (2,000 mg/kg/day) when administered in a single dose and better than paromomycin when administered in three daily doses. One compound, A110, appeared to promote Cryptosporidium infection. The pharmacokinetic, uptake, and permeability properties of the eight compounds were measured. P131 had the lowest systemic distribution but accumulated to high concentrations within intestinal cells. A110 had the highest systemic distribution. These observations suggest that systemic distribution is not required, and may be a liability, for in vivo antiparasitic activity. Intriguingly, A110 caused specific alterations in fecal microbiota that were not observed with P131 or vehicle alone. Such changes may explain how A110 promotes parasitemia. Collectively, these observations suggest a blueprint for the development of anticryptosporidial therapy.

Oral immunization with attenuated Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium encoding Cryptosporidium parvum Cp23 and Cp40 antigens induces a specific immune response in mice.

ABSTRACT Attenuated Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium vaccine strain SL3261 was used as an antigen delivery system for the oral immunization of mice against two Cryptosporidium parvum antigens, Cp23 and Cp40. Each antigen was subcloned into the pTECH1 vector system, which allows them to be expressed as fusion proteins with highly immunogenic fragment C of tetanus toxin under the control of the anaerobically inducible nirB promoter. The recombinant vector was introduced into Salmonella Typhimurium vaccine strain SL3261, and the stable soluble expression of the chimeric protein was evaluated and confirmed by Western blotting with polyclonal C. parvum antisera. Mice were inoculated orally with a single dose of SL3261/pTECH-Cp23 or Cp40, respectively, and plasmid stability was demonstrated both in vitro and in vivo. Specific serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies against the Cp23 or Cp40 antigen were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay 35 days after immunization. Also, serum IgA and mucosal (feces) IgA antibodies were detected in 30% of the mice immunized with Cp23. In addition, prime-boosting with Cp23 and Cp40 DNA vaccine vectors followed by Salmonella immunization significantly increased antibody responses to both antigens. Our data show that a single oral inoculation with recombinant S. Typhimurium SL3261 can induce specific antibody responses to the Cp23 or Cp40 antigen from C. parvum in mice, suggesting that recombinant Salmonella is a feasible delivery system for a vaccine against C. parvum infection.

Amelioration of Cryptosporidium parvum Infection In Vitro and In Vivo by Targeting Parasite Fatty Acyl-Coenzyme A Synthetases

BACKGROUND Cryptosporidium is emerging as 1 of the 4 leading diarrheal pathogens in children in developing countries. Its infections in patients with AIDS can be fatal, whereas fully effective treatments are unavailable. The major goal of this study is to explore parasite fatty acyl-coenzyme A synthetase (ACS) as a novel drug target. METHODS A colorimetric assay was developed to evaluate biochemical features and inhibitory kinetics of Cryptosporidium parvum ACSs using recombinant proteins. Anticryptosporidial efficacies of the ACS inhibitor triacsin C were evaluated both in vitro and in vivo. RESULTS Cryptosporidium ACSs displayed substrate preference toward long-chain fatty acids. The activity of parasite ACSs could be specifically inhibited by triacsin C with the inhibition constant Ki in the nanomolar range. Triacsin C was highly effective against C. parvum growth in vitro (median inhibitory concentration, 136 nmol/L). Most importantly, triacsin C effectively reduced parasite oocyst production up to 88.1% with no apparent toxicity when administered to Cryptosporidium-infected interleukin 12 knockout mice at 8-15 mg/kg/d for 1 week. CONCLUSIONS The findings of this study not only validated Cryptosporidium ACS (and related acyl-[acyl-carrier-protein]-ligases) as pharmacological targets but also indicate that triacsin C and analogues can be explored as potential new therapeutics against the virtually untreatable cryptosporidial infection in immunocompromised patients.

Evaluation of DNA encoding acidic ribosomal protein P2 of Cryptosporidium parvum as a potential vaccine candidate for cryptosporidiosis

The Cryptosporidium parvum acidic ribosomal protein P2 (CpP2) is an important immunodominant marker in C. parvum infection. In this study, the CpP2 antigen was evaluated as a vaccine candidate using a DNA vaccine model in adult C57BL/6 IL-12 knockout (KO) mice, which are susceptible to C. parvum infection. Our data show that subcutaneous immunization in the ear with DNA encoding CpP2 (CpP2-DNA) cloned into the pUMVC4b vector induced a significant anti-CpP2 IgG antibody response that was predominantly of the IgG1 isotype. Compared to control KO mice immunized with plasmid alone, CpP2-immunized mice demonstrated specific in vitro spleen cell proliferation as well as enhanced IFN-γ production to recombinant CpP2. Further, parasite loads in CpP2 DNA-immunized mice were compared to control mice challenged with C. parvum oocysts. Although a trend in reduction of infection was observed in the CpP2 DNA-immunized mice, differences between groups were not statistically significant. These results suggest that a DNA vaccine encoding the C. parvum P2 antigen is able to provide an effective means of eliciting humoral and cellular responses and has the potential to generate protective immunity against C. parvum infection but may require using alternative vectors or adjuvant to generate a more potent and balanced response.

IL-12 Knockout C57BL/6 Mice are Protected from Re-infection with Cryptosporidium parvum after Challenge

Cryptosporidium parvum is an opportunistic parasitic protozoan that infects the gastrointestinal tracts of many mammalian species including humans. The parasite has been identified as a significant cause of diarrhea in individuals with compromised immune systems, which has been associated with some morbidity and mortality. Several studies have shown that the immune response to the parasite is primarily mediated by cell-mediated immunity. IFN-c is believed to play a prominent role in the development of this immunity [4,11,13,14]. In contrast, previous studies in our laboratory have demonstrated that development of immunity to C. parvum occurs in BALB/c-Ifng mice despite the lack of gamma interferon (M. Smith et al., unpubl.). Mice that recovered from the initial infection, were challenged with 10 oocysts, and demonstrated nearly a 10-fold decrease in oocyst shedding upon re-infection. They also demonstrated a shorter period of infection (25 days for the first infection compared to 13 days in the second infection). These data indicate that BALB/c-Ifng mice develop sufficient immunity to be resistant to re-infection but do not develop complete immunity. The absence of IFN-c in these mice would suggest that there is possibly an IFN-cindependent pathway involved the development of immunity to reinfection. These observations demonstrate the need for further study to characterize the role of the different factors that could be involved in the development of immunity to Cryptosporidium. In contrast to C57BL/6J-Ifng mice which are unable to recover from infection, C57BL/6J-IL-12 knockout mice generate a partial c interferon response and recover by day 15 post infection. Unlike BALB/c-Ifng significant levels of c interferon are detected in splenocytes of infected IL-12 knockouts in response to specific parasitic antigen stimulation [3], suggesting that Th1 are generated in response to infection. Since these are important for development of lasting immunity, this model was explored as a model for studying the effects of lasting immune effects. The IL-12 knockout mouse model for C. parvum offers a mechanism to study acute and secondary infections as well as potential vaccine candidates.

IL‐18 Cytokine Levels Modulate Innate Immune Responses and Cryptosporidiosis in Mice

IL‐18 is known to play a key role limiting Cryptosporidium parvum infection. In this study, we show that IL‐18 depletion in SCID mice significantly exacerbates C. parvum infection, whereas, treatment with recombinant IL‐18 (rIL‐18), significantly decreases the parasite load, as compared to controls. Increases in serum IFN‐γ levels as well as the up‐regulation of the antimicrobial peptides, cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide and beta defensin 3 (Defb3) were observed in the intestinal mucosa of mice treated with rIL‐18. In addition, C. parvum infection significantly increased mRNA expression levels (> 50 fold) of the alpha defensins, Defa3 and 5, respectively. Interestingly, we also found a decrease in mRNA expression of IL‐33 (a recently identified cytokine in the same family as IL‐18) in the small intestinal tissue from mice treated with rIL‐18. In comparison, the respective genes were induced by IL‐18 depletion. Our findings suggest that IL‐18 can mediate its protective effects via different routes such as IFN‐γ induction or by directly stimulating intestinal epithelial cells to increase antimicrobial activity.

Dendritic cells play a role in host susceptibility to Cryptosporidium parvum infection.

Our previous studies have described dendritic cells (DCs) to be important sources of Th1 cytokines such as IL-12 and IL-2 in vitro, following stimulation with Cryptosporidium parvum antigens. We further established the role of DCs during cryptosporidiosis using a diphtheria toxin promoter regulated transgenic CD11c-DTR/EGFP mouse model. In vivo depletion of CD11c(+) cells in CD11c-DTR-Tg mice significantly increased susceptibility to C. parvum infection. Adoptive transfer of unstimulated or antigen stimulated DCs into CD11c(+) depleted CD11c-DTR-Tg mice resulted in an early decrease in parasite load at 4 days post infection. However, this response was transient since parasite load increased in mice engrafted with either unstimulated DCs or DCs stimulated with solubilized antigen by 6 days post infection. In contrast, in mice engrafted with DCs stimulated with live sporozoites, parasite load remained low during the entire period, suggesting the development of a more effective and sustained response. A corresponding increase in IFN-γ expression in T cells from spleen and mesenteric lymph nodes was also noted. Consistent with the in vivo engraftment study, DCs that are pulsed with live sporozoites in vitro and co-cultured with CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells produced higher IFN-γ levels. Our study establishes the importance of DCs in susceptibility to infection by C. parvum and as important mediators of immune responses.

CD4⁺ effector and memory cell populations protect against Cryptosporidium parvum infection.

Cryptosporidium parvum is a protozoan parasite that infects the epithelial cells of the small intestine causing diarrheal illness in humans. While T cells are known to be important in resistance and recovery from infection, little has been characterized as to the phenotypic expression of surface effector and memory markers after infection. We used an acute model of infection (C57BL/6 interleukin-12p40), which develops long-standing resistance to re-infection, to characterize expression of different effector and memory cells. Using flow cytometry, we found that heterogeneous populations were generated after infection, consisting of both CD62L(high) central memory T cells (T(CM)) and CD62L(low) effector memory T cells (T(EM)) that were competent to produce the Th type 1 effector cytokine, IFN-γ. Both CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T(CM) and T(EM) populations persisted in the absence of infection (up to 60 days post-infection). Additionally, transfer of either CD62L(low)CD4⁺ T(EM) or CD62L(high)CD4⁺ T(CM) into naive recipients resulted in a protective response. Taken together, these studies show that distinct subsets of effector and memory CD4⁺ T cells develop after infection with C. parvum, and mediate protective immunity to re-challenge.

Efficacy of glycoconjugated dinitroanilines against Cryptosporidium parvum.

The dinitroaniline compounds are highly active (in vitro) against C. purvum [1,2]. This same class of compounds has been shown to selectively inhibit other protozoa such as Leishmania, Plasmodium, and Toxoplusma [3,4,5]. These compounds act by binding tubulin, thus impeding the function of the microtubules. Microtubules are a potentially useful target of anti-cryptosporidial therapy since protozoan (including C. parvum) tubulin is more closely related to plants than to mammalian tubulin. Two of the properties the dinitroaniline herbicides have are low water solubility and an unusually low vapor pressure, which created problems in their development as anti-parasitic agents. Since glycoconjugate chemistry has in recent years been shown to be an effective strategy for the delivery of molecules with poor transport profiles several analogs were synthesized. These include dinitroanilines with (1) two types of sugars, mannose and glucose, (2) sulfur linkages to prevent hydrolysis of the sugar, and (3) acetylated sugar conjugates to facilitate transport across the membrane.

The Existing Drug Vorinostat as a New Lead Against Cryptosporidiosis by Targeting the Parasite Histone Deacetylases

Background Cryptosporidiosis affects all human populations, but can be much more severe or life-threatening in children and individuals with weak or weakened immune systems. However, current options to treat cryptosporidiosis are limited. Methods An in vitro phenotypic screening assay was employed to screen 1200 existing drugs for their anticryptosporidial activity and to determine the inhibitory kinetics of top hits. Selected top hits were further evaluated in mice. The action of the lead compound vorinostat on the parasite histone deacetylase (HDAC) was biochemically validated. Results Fifteen compounds exhibited anticryptosporidial activity at nanomolar level in vitro. Among them, the histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor vorinostat retained outstanding efficacy in vitro (half maximal effective concentration, EC50 = 203 nM) and in an interleukin 12 knockout mouse model (50% inhibition dose = 7.5 mg/kg). Vorinostat was effective on various parasite developmental stages and could irreversibly kill the parasite. Vorinostat was highly effective against the parasite native HDAC enzymes (half maximal inhibitory concentration, IC50 = 90.0 nM) and a recombinant Cryptosporidium parvum HDAC (the inhibitor constant, Ki = 123.0 nM). Conclusions These findings suggest the potential for repurposing of vorinostat to treat cryptosporidiosis, and imply that the parasite HDAC can be explored for developing more selective anticryptosporidial therapeutics.