Toxoplasma gondii and Cryptosporidium parvum are important opportunistic pathogens that cause devastating disease in immunocompromised humans. Both are capable of causing food or waterborne infections and hence are also a threat to healthy individuals. Severe infections with T. gondii typically occur in immunocompromised patients, including HIV infection, cancer chemotherapy, organ transplant, or infants infected in utero. Additionally, new studies indicate that severe ocular disease can also occur in healthy adults. Cryptosporidium also causes severe diarrheal disease in immunocompromised patients and treatment is hampered by the lack of effective therapy. Cryptosporidium has also been known to cause widespread outbreaks of debilitating illness in healthy individuals due to contaminated domestic water supplies. Treatment of infections caused by these parasites is complicated by lack of effective medicines and/or intolerance to currently available drugs. Hence, there is a need to develop new therapeutic agents to treat infections with these parasites. The goal of our project is to develop small molecule inhibitors of parasite-specific kinases belonging to the calcium-dependent protein kinase (CDPK) family. CDPKs are plant-like protein kinases that are not found in animal cells, yet they are expanded in apicomplexan parasites. Our recent studies using molecular genetic and chemical biology approaches reveal that CDPK1 is essential for parasite growth. We have also demonstrated that CDPK1 is specifically and potently inhibited by bulky ATP analogs, which have limited activity against host kinases. We will pursue identification of improved inhibitors with greater potency for selective inhibition of CDPK1 from T. gondii and C. parvum using a combination of biochemical, molecular genetic, chemical biology and medicinal chemistry approaches. We will also design, synthesize, and test new inhibitors with improved pharmacological properties for in vivo treatment. Selective inhibitors will be evaluated for their ability to prevent acute and chronic infection in a rodent model for toxoplasmosis.

Public Health Relevance

Toxoplasma gondii and Cryptosporidium parvum are important food borne pathogens of humans that cause disease in those with weakened immune systems. Our studies are designed to identify chemical inhibitors that potently and selectively inhibit parasite growth. Such inhibitors may lead to improved therapeutic intervention against severe infections caused by these parasites.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01AI094098-04
Application #
8856479
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1)
Program Officer
O'Neil, Michael T
Project Start
2012-07-01
Project End
2017-06-30
Budget Start
2015-07-01
Budget End
2017-06-30
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2015
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Washington University
Department
Microbiology/Immun/Virology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
068552207
City
Saint Louis
State
MO
Country
United States
Zip Code
63130
Shen, Bang; Brown, Kevin; Long, Shaojun et al. (2017) Development of CRISPR/Cas9 for Efficient Genome Editing in Toxoplasma gondii. Methods Mol Biol 1498:79-103
Garcia, Celia R S; Alves, Eduardo; Pereira, Pedro H S et al. (2017) InsP3 Signaling in Apicomplexan Parasites. Curr Top Med Chem 17:2158-2165
Rutaganira, Florentine U; Barks, Jennifer; Dhason, Mary Savari et al. (2017) Inhibition of Calcium Dependent Protein Kinase 1 (CDPK1) by Pyrazolopyrimidine Analogs Decreases Establishment and Reoccurrence of Central Nervous System Disease by Toxoplasma gondii. J Med Chem 60:9976-9989
Kuhlenschmidt, Theresa B; Rutaganira, Florentine U; Long, Shaojun et al. (2016) Inhibition of Calcium-Dependent Protein Kinase 1 (CDPK1) In Vitro by Pyrazolopyrimidine Derivatives Does Not Correlate with Sensitivity of Cryptosporidium parvum Growth in Cell Culture. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 60:570-9
Brown, Kevin M; Lourido, Sebastian; Sibley, L David (2016) Serum Albumin Stimulates Protein Kinase G-dependent Microneme Secretion in Toxoplasma gondii. J Biol Chem 291:9554-65
Long, Shaojun; Wang, Qiuling; Sibley, L David (2016) Analysis of Noncanonical Calcium-Dependent Protein Kinases in Toxoplasma gondii by Targeted Gene Deletion Using CRISPR/Cas9. Infect Immun 84:1262-1273
Hui, Raymond; El Bakkouri, Majida; Sibley, L David (2015) Designing selective inhibitors for calcium-dependent protein kinases in apicomplexans. Trends Pharmacol Sci 36:452-60
Lazarus, Michael B; Novotny, Chris J; Shokat, Kevan M (2015) Structure of the human autophagy initiating kinase ULK1 in complex with potent inhibitors. ACS Chem Biol 10:257-61
Lipp, Jesse J; Marvin, Michael C; Shokat, Kevan M et al. (2015) SR protein kinases promote splicing of nonconsensus introns. Nat Struct Mol Biol 22:611-7
Shen, Bang; Brown, Kevin M; Lee, Tobie D et al. (2014) Efficient gene disruption in diverse strains of Toxoplasma gondii using CRISPR/CAS9. MBio 5:e01114-14

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