Giardia lamblia is a human pathogen afflicting impoverished nations, and the most common cause of outbreaks of diarrhea in the United States. Giardia has been classified by the CDC as a category B bioterrorism organism. The favored anti giardiasis drugs in the US are metronidazole or tinidazole, compounds that have undesirable side effects. Moreover, increasing resistance to drug regimes and recurrence are a concern. It is thus clear that alternative drug treatments are needed. We have developed a bioluminescence Giarida viability assay based on the trophozoites ATP content that is suitable for high throughput screening and miniaturized the assay for compound screening in 1536-well plates. We propose to screen the NIH compound library and investigate the selectivity of hit compounds using initially CHO cells and later CACO-2 cells. The minimum lethal concentration of selective compounds exhibiting low IC50 will be determined by re- growth experiments. For a few top hits, identification of the Giardia target will be undertaken and if successful, advanced to structure-based compound optimization.

Public Health Relevance

Giardia lamblia is a human pathogen afflicting billions of people annually and a category B bioterrorism organism. Giardiasis treatments have undesirable side effects, recurrence, and increasing drug resistance. To facilitate discovery of better drugs, we have developed a Giardia viability assay and miniaturized it for high throughput compound screening. This assay will be used to screen the NIH compound library and identify compounds that kill Giardia trophozoites.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Small Research Grants (R03)
Project #
5R03MH093177-02
Application #
8204416
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-BST-F (50))
Program Officer
Yao, Yong
Project Start
2010-12-01
Project End
2013-11-30
Budget Start
2011-12-01
Budget End
2013-11-30
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2012
Total Cost
$31,875
Indirect Cost
$6,875
Name
University of Maryland College Park
Department
Miscellaneous
Type
Other Domestic Higher Education
DUNS #
790934285
City
College Park
State
MD
Country
United States
Zip Code
20742