UMMS Affiliation
Program in Molecular Medicine
Publication Date
2019-06-24
Document Type
Article
Disciplines
Biochemical Phenomena, Metabolism, and Nutrition | Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology | Enzymes and Coenzymes | Immunoprophylaxis and Therapy | Parasitic Diseases | Parasitology | Therapeutics
Abstract
Targeting chokepoint enzymes in metabolic pathways has led to new drugs for cancers, autoimmune disorders and infectious diseases. This is also a cornerstone approach for discovery and development of anthelmintics against nematode and flatworm parasites. Here, we performed omics-driven knowledge-based identification of chokepoint enzymes as anthelmintic targets. We prioritized 10 of 186 phylogenetically conserved chokepoint enzymes and undertook a target class repurposing approach to test and identify new small molecules with broad spectrum anthelmintic activity. First, we identified and tested 94 commercially available compounds using an in vitro phenotypic assay, and discovered 11 hits that inhibited nematode motility. Based on these findings, we performed chemogenomic screening and tested 32 additional compounds, identifying 6 more active hits. Overall, 6 intestinal (single-species), 5 potential pan-intestinal (whipworm and hookworm) and 6 pan-Phylum Nematoda (intestinal and filarial species) small molecule inhibitors were identified, including multiple azoles, Tadalafil and Torin-1. The active hit compounds targeted three different target classes in humans, which are involved in various pathways, including carbohydrate, amino acid and nucleotide metabolism. Last, using representative inhibitors from each target class, we demonstrated in vivo efficacy characterized by negative effects on parasite fecundity in hamsters infected with hookworms.
Keywords
hookworms, chokepoint enzymes, anthelmintics
Rights and Permissions
Copyright © The Author(s) 2019. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
DOI of Published Version
10.1038/s41598-019-45548-7
Source
Sci Rep. 2019 Jun 24;9(1):9085. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-45548-7. Link to article on publisher's site
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Scientific reports
Related Resources
PubMed ID
31235822
Repository Citation
Tyagi R, Mostafa EA, Wildman SA, Helander J, Bulman CA, Sakanari J, Rosa BA, Brindley PJ, Janetka JW, Aroian RV, Mitreva M. (2019). Identification of small molecule enzyme inhibitors as broad-spectrum anthelmintics. Open Access Articles. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-45548-7. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/oapubs/3903
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Included in
Biochemical Phenomena, Metabolism, and Nutrition Commons, Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology Commons, Enzymes and Coenzymes Commons, Immunoprophylaxis and Therapy Commons, Parasitic Diseases Commons, Parasitology Commons, Therapeutics Commons