Abstract
AbstractMicrosporidia are a diverse group of fungal-related obligate intracellular parasites that infect most animal phyla. Despite the emerging threat that microsporidia represent to humans and agricultural animals, few reliable treatment options exist. Here, we develop a high-throughput screening method for the identification of chemical inhibitors of microsporidia infection, using liquid cultures of Caenorhabditis elegans infected with the microsporidia species Nematocida parisii. We screen a collection of 2560 FDA-approved compounds and natural products, and identify 11 candidate microsporidia inhibitors. Five compounds prevent microsporidia infection by inhibiting spore firing, whereas one compound, dexrazoxane, slows infection progression. The compounds have in vitro activity against several other microsporidia species, including those known to infect humans. Together, our results highlight the effectiveness of C. elegans as a model host for drug discovery against intracellular pathogens, and provide a scalable high-throughput system for the identification and characterization of microsporidia inhibitors.
Funder
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | Office of Extramural Research, National Institutes of Health
Pew Charitable Trusts
Gouvernement du Canada | Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
General Physics and Astronomy,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology,General Chemistry,Multidisciplinary
Cited by
14 articles.
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