Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

Antimalarial drug mefloquine kills both trophozoite and cyst stages of Entamoeba Mefloquine and Entamoeba histolytica

View ORCID ProfileConall Sauvey, Gretchen Ehrenkaufer, View ORCID ProfileAnjan Debnath, Ruben Abagyan
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/501999
Conall Sauvey
1Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases, Skaggs School for Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California - San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Conall Sauvey
Gretchen Ehrenkaufer
2Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Anjan Debnath
1Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases, Skaggs School for Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California - San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Anjan Debnath
Ruben Abagyan
1Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases, Skaggs School for Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California - San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: ruben@ucsd.edu
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Preview PDF
Loading

Abstract

Entamoeba histolytica is a protozoan parasite which infects approximately 50 million people worldwide, resulting in an estimated 70,000 deaths every year. Since the 1960s E. histolytica infection has been successfully treated with metronidazole. However, drawbacks to metronidazole therapy exist, including adverse effects, length of treatment, and the need for additional drugs to prevent transmission. All of these may decrease patient compliance and hence increase disease severity and spread of infection. In this study we identified the antimalarial drug mefloquine as possessing more potent, rapid, amoebicidal in vitro activity against E. histolytica trophozoites than metronidazole. We also showed that mefloquine could kill the cysts of a closely related reptilian parasite Entamoeba invadens unlike metronidazole. Additionally, mefloquine is known to possess a much longer half-life in human patients than metronidazole. This property, along with mefloquine’s rapid and broad action against E. histolytica position it as a promising new drug candidate against this widespread and devastating disease.

Author Summary Every year, around 70,000 people worldwide die from infection by the intestinal parasite Entamoeba histolytica, despite the widespread availability of the drug metronidazole as a treatment. Part of the reason for this may be due to issues with patients failing to comply with the full course of treatment for the drug, due either to unpleasant side-effects, to the somewhat long treatment period, or the need for a secondary drug to kill the transmissible life stage of the parasite. In this report we discovered that the antimalarial drug mefloquine killed E. histolytica more potently and more rapidly than metronidazole, and, importantly, also killed the transmissible cyst stage of another Entamoeba species used as a model system. These findings make mefloquine an excellent candidate for an alternative drug to the current standard, with a simpler course of treatment and a more effective strategy to reduce the spread of this disease.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted December 20, 2018.
Download PDF
Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Antimalarial drug mefloquine kills both trophozoite and cyst stages of Entamoeba Mefloquine and Entamoeba histolytica
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
Antimalarial drug mefloquine kills both trophozoite and cyst stages of Entamoeba Mefloquine and Entamoeba histolytica
Conall Sauvey, Gretchen Ehrenkaufer, Anjan Debnath, Ruben Abagyan
bioRxiv 501999; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/501999
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo LinkedIn logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Antimalarial drug mefloquine kills both trophozoite and cyst stages of Entamoeba Mefloquine and Entamoeba histolytica
Conall Sauvey, Gretchen Ehrenkaufer, Anjan Debnath, Ruben Abagyan
bioRxiv 501999; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/501999

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Pharmacology and Toxicology
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (4102)
  • Biochemistry (8806)
  • Bioengineering (6505)
  • Bioinformatics (23429)
  • Biophysics (11778)
  • Cancer Biology (9189)
  • Cell Biology (13304)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (7426)
  • Ecology (11396)
  • Epidemiology (2066)
  • Evolutionary Biology (15138)
  • Genetics (10426)
  • Genomics (14032)
  • Immunology (9161)
  • Microbiology (22139)
  • Molecular Biology (8802)
  • Neuroscience (47508)
  • Paleontology (350)
  • Pathology (1427)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (2488)
  • Physiology (3726)
  • Plant Biology (8074)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1436)
  • Synthetic Biology (2220)
  • Systems Biology (6029)
  • Zoology (1252)