Survey of Amebiasis at an Institution for the Mentally Retarded in Shizuoka Prefecture

Terai, Katsuya; Masuda, Takashi; Miyamoto, Hideki

doi:10.11150/kansenshogakuzasshi1970.73.626

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“…Sulfur-containing amino acids are essential for a variety of biological activities, including protein synthesis, methylation, polyamine synthesis, coenzyme A production, cysteamine production, taurine production, iron-sulfur cluster (ISC) biosynthesis, and antioxidative stress defense (233). Besides the general importance of sulfur-containing amino acids, it was previously shown that a high concentration of extracel-lular cysteine is required for the growth, attachment, and survival of E. histolytica, T. vaginalis, and G. intestinalis under oxidative stress (2,36,(106)(107)(108)(109)(110)298).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Current Therapeutics, Their Problems, and Sulfur-Containing-Amino-Acid Metabolism as a Novel Target against Infections by “Amitochondriate” Protozoan Parasites

2007

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SUMMARY The “amitochondriate” protozoan parasites of humans Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia intestinalis, and Trichomonas vaginalis share many biochemical features, e.g., energy and amino acid metabolism, a spectrum of drugs for their treatment, and the occurrence of drug resistance. These parasites possess metabolic pathways that are divergent from those of their mammalian hosts and are often considered to be good targets for drug development. Sulfur-containing-amino-acid metabolism represents one such divergent metabolic pathway, namely, the cysteine biosynthetic pathway and methionine γ-lyase-mediated catabolism of sulfur-containing amino acids, which are present in T. vaginalis and E. histolytica but absent in G. intestinalis. These pathways are potentially exploitable for development of drugs against amoebiasis and trichomoniasis. For instance, l-trifluoromethionine, which is catalyzed by methionine γ-lyase and produces a toxic product, is effective against T. vaginalis and E. histolytica parasites in vitro and in vivo and may represent a good lead compound. In this review, we summarize the biology of these microaerophilic parasites, their clinical manifestation and epidemiology of disease, chemotherapeutics, the modes of action of representative drugs, and problems related to these drugs, including drug resistance. We further discuss our approach to exploit unique sulfur-containing-amino-acid metabolism, focusing on development of drugs against E. histolytica.

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