Transmission of malaria to mosquitoes blocked by bumped kinase inhibitors

Abstract

powers erythrocyte invasion (6), while PfCDPK5 was shown to be critical for egress of P. falciparum merozoites from erythrocytes (7). In this report, we describe bumped kinase inhibitors (BKIs) that block infection of mosquitoes by malaria parasites. These compounds selectively and potently inhibit CDPK4, which is required for exflagellation of Plasmodium berghei microgametes (8) and has recently been shown to be connected with induction of exflagellation in P. falciparum microgametes (9), before fusion with the macrogamete, to form a zygote. The zygote undergoes transitional ookinete and oocyst stages to mature into infective sporozoites that are injected into a mammalian host during the female mosquito blood meal. Blocking exflagellation through the selective inhibition of Plasmodium CDPK4 would be expected to interrupt malaria transmission without being toxic to humans (10). Results and DiscussionWe have previously demonstrated that the ATP-binding pockets of Toxoplasma gondii and Cryptosporidium parvum CDPK1 can be selectively targeted by BKIs with large aromatic moieties displayed from the 3 position of the pyrazolopyrimidine scaffold due to the anomalously small gatekeeper residues (glycine) present in these kinases. Selective inhibition of Tg/CpCDPK1 with BKIs leads to blockage of mammalian-host cell invasion (11,12). PfCDPK4 has a serine at the gatekeeper position (Figure 1), smaller than the gatekeeper in almost all mammalian kinases, and an overall binding pocket that is very similar to those of TgCDPK1 and CpCDPK1. A number of compounds in our Tg/CpCDPK1 BKI library were found to inhibit recombinant PfCDPK4 (rPfCDPK4), the most potent being BKI-1 with an IC 50 (concentration to inhibit 50% of enzyme activity) of 4 nM (Table 1). However, not all compounds that are potent inhibitors of Tg/CpCDPK1 have comparable activity against rPfCDPK4. Despite the overall structural similarities in the ATP-binding pockets of CDPKs, small differences in the size of the gatekeeper residue may have a large effect on inhibitor potency.Effective control and eradication of malaria will require new tools to prevent transmission. Current antimalarial therapies targeting the asexual stage of Plasmodium do not prevent transmission of circulating gametocytes from infected humans to mosquitoes. Here, we describe a new class of transmission-blocking compounds, bumped kinase inhibitors (BKIs), which inhibit microgametocyte exflagellation. Oocyst formation and sporozoite production, necessary for transmission to mammals, were inhibited in mosquitoes fed on either BKI-1-treated human blood or mice treated with BKI-1. BKIs are hypothesized to act via inhibition of Plasmodium calcium-dependent protein kinase 4 and predicted to have little activity against mammalian kinases. Our data show that BKIs do not inhibit proliferation of mammalian cell lines and are well tolerated in mice. Used in combination with drugs active against asexual stages of Plasmodium, BKIs could prove an important tool for malaria control and eradication.

Novel Bumped Kinase Inhibitors Are Safe and Effective Therapeutics in the Calf Clinical Model for Cryptosporidiosis

“…The propagation of C. parvum (Iowa isolate) in calves and oocyst purification [34][35][36][37], synthesis of BKIs [22,25,27,38], in vitro CpCDPK1 enzyme assay [22,25,38], in vitro determination of C. parvum BKI sensitivity [22,25,38,39], neonatal mouse [36,40] and calf models of C. parvum infection [37,[41][42][43], and pharmacologic measurement of BKI plasma and stool levels and plasma protein binding have all been previously described [27,44]. BKI-1294 and BKI-1553 were synthesized on the pyrazolo [2,3-d] pyrimidine scaffold, while BKI-1517 was synthesized on a 5-aminopyrazole-4-carboxamide scaffold [25] (Figure 1).…”

“…Apicomplexan CDPK homologs have crucial roles in host cell invasion, micronemal secretion, and gliding motility [23,[27][28][29][30]. The C. parvum CDPK1 differs from mammalian protein kinases in having a glycine gatekeeper residue in the adenosine triphosphate-binding pocket, making CDPK1 a high-affinity target for highly selective bumped kinase inhibitors (BKIs).…”

The development of malaria parasites in the mosquito midgut

“…falciparum microgametes in vitro and transmission of P . berghei to the mosquito in vivo (Ojo et al ., 2012, 2014) (Table 1). …”

In Vitro and In Vivo Effects of the Bumped Kinase Inhibitor 1294 in the Related Cyst-Forming Apicomplexans Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum

“…In turn, chronic infection is characterized by the formation of intracellular tissue cysts in brain and muscular tissues that harbor slowly proliferating bradyzoites. Calcium-dependent protein kinases (CDPKs), encoded by apicoplast-associated genes and, thus, only found in apicomplexan parasites and plants, represent excellent drug targets in several apicomplexans such as Plasmodium falciparum (6), Cryptosporidium parvum (7,8) where novel drug targets are of crucial interest (9), N. caninum (10), Eimeria tenella, and Babesia bovis (11). Excellent correlations between cell activity and CDPK1 inhibition were achieved by compounds from a focused bumped kinase inhibitor (BKI) library.…”