The Intervention of the Pirfenidone with Pericyst Layer Building of the Hydatid Cyst

Abstract

Hydatid disease is a zoonosis caused by Echinococcus granulosus larval stage, characterized by developing a fluid-filled hydatid cyst in any part in the body, with a particular liver and lung localization. The released hydatid cyst fluid (HCF) antigens actively induce epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) in the epithelial cells surrounding the mass of the hydatid cyst, result in pericyst layer construction, which plays a vital role in preventing the antiparasitic medications from being reached to the parasite. Therefore, the current study attempted to employ the antifibrotic effect of the Pirfenidone to hinder the induced EMT by HCF antigens. For this reason, the adenocarcinomic human alveolar basal epithelial cells (A549 cell line) was used as a model system to human alveolar epithelial cells type II (AEC II) to assess the effect of the Pirfenidone on the induced EMT by HCF antigens. Different assays used to investigate the EMT induction, then Pirfenidone effect assessed using immunofluorescence assay to detect cytoskeletal markers expression prior to and after treatment. The results reached that the Pirfenidone interrupting the induced EMT in A549 cells, and thus, it may interrupt the EMT and pericyst fibrosis in the same way in the infected tissues, which would facilitate the antiparasitic drugs delivery across the cyst wall and help in parasite killing.