Targeting CNS related protist pathogens: Calcium ion dependency in the brain-eating amoebae

Authors

Abdul Mannan Baig, Aga Khan University, Karachi, PakistanFollow
Areeba Khaleeq, Aga Khan UniversityFollow
Fizza Nazim, Aga Khan UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Department

Biological and Biomedical Sciences

Abstract

Of the free-living amoebae (FLA) Naegleria fowleri, Balamuthia mandrillaris, and Acanthamoeba spp. are known to cause encephalitis. Coined with the term "brain-eating amoebae" (BEA), infection of the central nervous system with FLA has a high mortality rate. A combination of diagnostic delay, lack of new drug development, and incomplete understanding of the dependencies of FLA have resulted in the failure of introducing safer and effective drugs. We inferred that being a shape-changing entity the FLA should have a dependency on calcium (Ca²⁺) ions that could be targeted to cripple the pathogenicity of the FLA. We used genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic information available on FLA in online databases to evidence the presence of various Ca²⁺ion influx regulating channels, reviewing adapter proteins at first and then targeting human-like voltage-gated Ca²⁺ channels with nifedipine and verapamil that are used clinically for noninfectious diseases to see their effect in trophozoites of Acanthamoeba spp. in particular.

Comments

Volume, issue, and pagination are not provided by the author/publisher

Publication (Name of Journal)

ACS Chemical Neuroscience

Recommended Citation

Baig, A. M., Khaleeq, A., Nazim, F. (2019). Targeting CNS related protist pathogens: Calcium ion dependency in the brain-eating amoebae. ACS Chemical Neuroscience.
Available at: https://ecommons.aku.edu/pakistan_fhs_mc_bbs/808