Abstract
Toxins that are secreted by cone snails are small peptides that are used to treat several diseases. However, their effects on parasites with human and veterinary significance are unknown. Toxoplasma gondii is an opportunistic parasite that affects approximately 30% of the world’s population and can be lethal in immunologically compromised individuals. The conventional treatment for this parasitic infection has remained the same since the 1950s, and its efficacy is limited to the acute phase of infection. These findings have necessitated the search for new drugs that specifically target T. gondii. We examined the effects of the synthetic toxin cal14.1a (s-cal14.1a) from C. californicus on the tachyzoite form of T. gondii. Our results indicate that, at micromolar concentrations, s-cal14.1a lowers viability and inhibits host cell invasion (by 50% and 61%, respectively) on exposure to extracellular parasites. Further, intracellular replication decreased significantly while viability of the host cell was unaffected. Our study is the first report on the antiparasitic activity of a synthetic toxin of C. californicus.
Highlights
Toxoplasma gondii is one of the most widely distributed parasites and it can infect any warm-blooded vertebrate
Decreased Extracellular Viability of Tachyzoites Induced by s-cal14.1a in Vitro
Exposure of extracellular tachyzoites to increasing nanomolar concentrations of s-cal14.1a for 30 min had little to no effect on parasite viability (Figure 1A)
Summary
Toxoplasma gondii is one of the most widely distributed parasites and it can infect any warm-blooded vertebrate. Host cell invasion by this parasite is a sequential process that involves several proteins from Apicomplexa specific secretory organelles [1,2] and parasite motility mechanisms that are based on its subpellicular cytoskeleton [3,4]. Toxoplasma tachyzoites proliferate actively inside parasitophorous vacuoles (PVs), which are formed at the time of invasion from host cellular membrane components and parasite-secreted products [5,6]. And in natural infections, PVs become tissue cysts that initiate the chronic phase of infection [7]. Toxoplasmosis is a congenital or acquired infectious disease that is induced by T. gondii. It is asymptomatic, but in immune-compromised persons, it
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