Dataset Information

In vitro effects of tropisetron and granisetron against Echinococcus granulosus (s.s.) protoscoleces by involvement of calcineurin and calmodulin.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is a disease caused by the larval stage of Echinococcus granulosus sensu lato (s.l.). The treatment of CE mainly relies on the use of benzimidazoles, which can commonly cause adverse side effects. Therefore, more efficient treatment options are needed. Drug repurposing is a useful approach for advancing drug development. We have evaluated the in vitro protoscolicidal effects of tropisetron and granisetron in E. granulosus sensu stricto (s.s.) and assessed the expression of the calcineurin (CaN) and calmodulin (CaM) genes, both of which have been linked to cellular signaling activities and thus are potentially promising targets for the development of drugs.

Methods

Protoscoleces (PSC) of E. granulosus (s.s.) (genotype G1) obtained from sheep hepatic hydatid cysts were exposed to tropisetron and granisetron at concentrations of 50, 150 and 250 µM for various periods of time up to 10 days. Cyclosporine A (CsA) and albendazole sulfoxide were used for comparison. Changes in the morphology of PSC were investigated by light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Gene expression was assessed using real-time PCR at the mRNA level for E. granulosus calcineurin subunit A (Eg-CaN-A), calcineurin subunit B (Eg-CaN-B) and calmodulin (Eg-CaM) after a 24-h exposure at 50 and 250 µM, respectively.

Results

At 150 and 250 µM, tropisetron had the highest protoscolicidal effect, whereas CsA was most effective at 50 µM. Granisetron, however, was less effective than tropisetron at all three concentrations. Examination of morphological alterations revealed that the rate at which PSC were killed increased with increasing rate of PSC evagination, as observed in PSC exposed to tropisetron. Gene expression analysis revealed that tropisetron at 50 μM significantly upregulated Eg-CaN-B and Eg-CaM expression while at 250 μM it significantly downregulated both Eg-CaN-B and Eg-CaM expressions; in comparison, granisetron decreased the expression of all three genes at both concentrations.

Conclusions

Tropisetron exhibited a higher efficacy than granisetron against E. granulosus (s.s.) PSC, which is probably due to the different mechanisms of action of the two drugs. The concentration-dependent effect of tropisetron on calcineurin gene expression might reflect its dual functions, which should stimulate future research into its mechanism of action and evaluation of its potential therapeutical effect in the treatment of CE.

SUBMITTER: Shiee MR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8042905 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundEchinococcus granulosus sensu lato has a complex developmental biology with a variety of factors relating to both intermediate and final hosts. To achieve maximum parasite adaptability, the development of the cestode is dependent on essential changes in transcript regulation. Transcription factors (TFs) and miRNAs are known as master regulators that affect the expression of downstream genes through a wide range of metabolic and signaling pathways. In this study, we aimed to develop a regulatory miRNA-Transcription factor (miRNA-TF) network across early developmental stages of E. granulosus protoscoleces by performing in silico analysis, and to experimentally validate TFs expression in protoscoleces obtained from in vitro culture, and from in vivo experiments.ResultsWe obtained list of 394 unique E. granulosus TFs and matched them with 818 differentially expressed genes which identified 41 predicted TFs with differential expression. These TFs were used to predict the potential targets of 31 differentially expressed miRNAs. As a result, eight miRNAs and eight TFs were found, and the predicted network was constructed using Cytoscape. At least four miRNAs (egr-miR-124a, egr-miR-124b-3p, egr-miR-745-3p, and egr-miR-87-3p) and their corresponding differentially expressed TFs (Zinc finger protein 45, Early growth response protein 3, Ecdysone induced protein 78c and ETS transcription factor elf 2) were highlighted in this investigation. The expression of predicted differentially expressed TFs obtained from in vitro and in vivo experiments, were experimentally validated by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. This confirmed findings of RNA-seq data.ConclusionmiRNA-TF networks presented in this study control some of the most important metabolic and signaling pathways in the development and life cycle of E. granulosus, providing a potential approach for disrupting the early hours of dog infection and preventing the development of the helminth in the final host.

Project description:TGF-Î² is a crucial cytokine participate in the interplay between the intermediate host and helminthes. TGF-Î² receptors were discovered in many cestode, and could bind the human TGF-Î². However, the function of host TGF-Î² on the Echinococcus is still not elucidated, and this paper aim to explore the question at transcription level. Microarray analysis was used to investigate differential expression genes in protoscolices of Echinococcus granulosus cultured in the presence or absence of human TGF-Î² at different time points (4h, 8h and 24h) in vitro. A total of 523 genes were up- or down-regulated in response to TGF-Î², compared with control group, 390 genes were up-regulated and 47 genes were down-regulated at 8h, and 376 genes were up-regulated and 19 genes were down-regulated at 12h, including 310 differential genes were regulated at both time point. Only 1 gene down-regulated at 4 h. Gene ontology (GO) analysis showed that the biological process of the up-regulated genes in protoscolex were predominantly involved in DNA packaging, nucleosome assembly, chromatin assembly, etc. And the cellular component gene were located in cell nucleus. TGF-Î² appeared to promote growth or development of the protoscolex by up-regulated the gene related with mitosis. In addition, the study also indicated that TGF-Î² has a multiple influence on the protoscolex, as reflected in the increased stimulation of gene expression of the ErbB signaling pathway, MAPK signaling pathway, Notch signaling pathway and VEGF signaling pathway. Isolated E. granulosus protoscoleces were treated with human TGF-Î² at different time points (4h, 8h and 24h) in vitro, and replicated 3 times. Each samples independently grown and harvested. And was extracted of total RNA using the TRIZOL Reagent according to the manufacturer's instructions. Gene-expression profiling was performed for each RNA sample separately on the GeneChip of Echinococcus granulosus Genome Array (Capitalbio) at CapitalBio Corporation (Beijing, China). The reference samples are protoscoleces treated by human TGF-Î²(0 h)