Affiliation:
1. Institut für Hygiene und Mikrobiologie, Universität Würzburg, Würzburg,1 and
2. Leibniz-Institut für Biotechnologie, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Hannover,2 Germany
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Alveolar echinococcosis, caused by the larval (metacestode) stage of the tapeworm
Echinococcus multilocularis
, is a lethal parasitosis of the liver prevalent in the Northern Hemisphere. For chemotherapy the benzimidazole derivatives mebendazole and albendazole were introduced, and their use has resulted in a significant improvement in the survival rates. However, data from experiments with animals and clinical observations indicate that these drugs elicit only parasitostatic activity and in most cases are not able to completely eliminate the parasitic metacestode tissue. In the present study, we applied a culture system for the in vitro growth and proliferation of
E. multilocularis
metacestodes to analyze the parasitostatic and parasitocidal potential of mebendazole. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that at concentrations of >0.1 μM, i.e., at concentrations used for therapy of human alveolar echinococcosis, this antihelminth drug is parasitocidal in vitro. Viability assessment was performed by infection experiments with
Meriones unguiculatus
and mebendazole-treated metacestode tissue and by reverse transcription-PCR for the detection of
E. multilocularis
mRNA. The
E. multilocularis
in vitro model proved to be a valuable tool for the analysis of the potential of antihelminth drugs.
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Subject
Infectious Diseases,Pharmacology (medical),Pharmacology