Towards an understanding of the mechanism of action of praziquantel
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ABSTRACT: Although praziquantel (PZQ) has been used to treat schistosomiasis for over 20 years its mechanism of action remains unknown. We have developed an assay based on the transcriptional response of S. mansoni PR-1 to heat shock to confirm that while 6 week post infection (p.i.) schistosomes are sensitive to PZQ, 4 week p.i. schistosomes are not. Further, we have used this assay to demonstrate that this sensitivity develops between days 37 and 40 p.i. PZQ linked to the fluorophore BODIPY appears to easily enter the cells of intact 4 and 6 week p.i. schistosomes as well as mammalian NIH 3T3 cells and together, these data suggest that the differential effects of PZQ is not based on cell exclusion but probably due the differential expression of a target molecule at 6 weeks p.i. A transcriptomal analysis of gene expression between 4 and 6 weeks p.i. revealed 607 candidate genes whose products are potential PZQ targets. A comparison of this gene list with that of genes expressed by PZQ sensitive miracidia reduced this target list to 247 genes, including a number involved in aerobic metabolism and cytosolic calcium regulation. Finally, we also report the effect of an in vitro sub-lethal exposure of PZQ on the transcriptome of S. mansoni PR-1. Annotation of genes differentially regulated by PZQ exposure suggests that schistosomes may undergo a transcriptomic response similar to that observed during oxidative stress. Keywords: cell type comparison, time course Cell type comparison: Four biologial replactes of schistosomes harvasted 4 and 6 week post-infection were performed. Time course: Four samples performed in duplicate for exposure to a sub-lethal dose of PZQ (50 M-BM-5g/ml) at time points 0, 30, 60, and 240 min over a common reference sample.
ORGANISM(S): Schistosoma mansoni
SUBMITTER: Anthony Aragon
PROVIDER: E-GEOD-12850 | biostudies-arrayexpress |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress
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