Title
Silver and nitrate oppositely modulate antimony susceptibility through aquaglyceroporin 1 in Leishmania (Viannia) species
Date Issued
01 August 2016
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Andrade J.
Baba E.
Machado-De-Avila R.
Demicheli C.
Frézard F.
Monte-Neto R.
Murta S.
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
Publisher(s)
American Society for Microbiology
Abstract
Antimony (Sb) resistance in leishmaniasis chemotherapy has become one of the major challenges to the control of this spreading worldwide public health problem. Since the plasma membrane pore-forming protein aquaglyceroporin 1 (AQP1) is the major route of Sb uptake in Leishmania, functional studies are relevant to characterize drug transport pathways in the parasite. We generated AQP1-overexpressing Leishmania guyanensis and L. braziliensis mutants and investigated their susceptibility to the trivalent form of Sb (SbIII) in the presence of silver and nitrate salts. Both AQP1-overexpressing lines presented 3- to 4-fold increased AQP1 expression levels compared with those of their untransfected counterparts, leading to an increased SbIII susceptibility of about 2-fold. Competition assays using silver nitrate, silver sulfadiazine, or silver acetate prior to SbIII exposure increased parasite growth, especially in AQP1-overexpressing mutants. Surprisingly, SbIII-sodium nitrate or SbIII-potassium nitrate combinations showed significantly enhanced antileishmanial activities compared to those of SbIII alone, especially against AQP1-overexpressing mutants, suggesting a putative nitrate-dependent modulation of AQP1 activity. The intracellular level of antimony quantified by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry showed that the concomitant exposure to SbIII and nitrate favors antimony accumulation in the parasite, increasing the toxicity of the drug and culminating with parasite death. This is the first report showing evidence of AQP1-mediated SbIII susceptibility modulation by silver in Leishmania and suggests the potential antileishmanial activity of the combination of nitrate salts and SbIII.
Start page
4482
End page
4489
Volume
60
Issue
8
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Inmunología
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-84979211068
PubMed ID
Source
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
ISSN of the container
00664804
Sponsor(s)
We thank Stephen Beverley for kindly providing the pIR1-BSD expression vector and the Program for Technological Development in Tools for Health-PDTIS-FIOCRUZ for the use of its facilities. This study received financial support from the following agencies: CNPq/Universal (475782/2012-7), CNPq/BJT (401936/2013-9), CNPq/Pq (304483/2015-0), the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG-CBB-PPM00196/13 and 00610/15), UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO (TDR), and the P3D-Programa de Descoberta e Desenvolvimento de Drogas (PROEP/CNPq/FIOCRUZ 401988/2012-0). R.L.M.-N. and S.M.F.M. are researchers supported by CNPq-Brasil (National Council for the Scientific and Technological Development). J.M.A. is supported by a doctoral fellowship from CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel). R.L.M.-N. holds a young talent fellowship (CNPq/BJT-A 314024/2013-1). The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus