Targeting a prokaryotic protein in a eukaryotic pathogen: identification of lead compounds against cryptosporidiosis.

Cryptosporidium parvum is an important human pathogen and potential bioterrorism agent. No vaccines exist against C. parvum, the drugs currently approved to treat cryptosporidiosis are ineffective, and drug discovery is challenging because the parasite cannot be maintained continuously in cell culture. Mining the sequence of the C. parvum genome has revealed that the only route to guanine nucleotides is via inosine-5'-monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH). Moreover, phylogenetic analysis suggests that the IMPDH gene was obtained from bacteria by lateral gene transfer. Here we exploit the unexpected evolutionary divergence of parasite and host enzymes by designing a high-throughput screen to target the most diverged portion of the IMPDH active site. We have identified four parasite-selective IMPDH inhibitors that display antiparasitic activity with greater potency than paromomycin, the current gold standard for anticryptosporidial activity.

Cryptosporidium parvum IMP dehydrogenase: identification of functional, structural, and dynamic properties that can be exploited for drug design.

The protozoan parasite Cryptosporidium parvum causes severe enteritis with substantial morbidity and mortality among AIDS patients and young children. No fully effective treatment is available. C. parvum relies on inosine 5'-monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) to produce guanine nucleotides and is highly susceptible to IMPDH inhibition. Furthermore, C. parvum obtained its IMPDH gene by lateral transfer from an epsilon-proteobacterium, suggesting that the parasite enzyme might have very different characteristics than the human counterpart. Here we describe the expression of recombinant C. parvum IMPDH in an Escherichia coli strain lacking the bacterial homolog. Expression of the parasite gene restores growth of this mutant on minimal medium, confirming that the protein has IMPDH activity. The recombinant protein was purified to homogeneity and used to probe the enzyme's mechanism, structure, and inhibition profile in a series of kinetic experiments. The mechanism of the C. parvum enzyme involves the random addition of substrates and ordered release of products with rate-limiting hydrolysis of a covalent enzyme intermediate. The pronounced resistance of C. parvum IMPDH to mycophenolic acid inhibition is in strong agreement with its bacterial origin. The values of Km for NAD and Ki for mycophenolic acid as well as the synergistic interaction between tiazofurin and ADP differ significantly from those of the human enzymes. These data suggest that the structure and dynamic properties of the NAD binding site of C. parvum IMPDH can be exploited to develop parasite-specific inhibitors.

Gene transfer in the evolution of parasite nucleotide biosynthesis.

Nucleotide metabolic pathways provide numerous successful targets for antiparasitic chemotherapy, but the human pathogen Cryptosporidium parvum thus far has proved extraordinarily refractory to classical treatments. Given the importance of this protist as an opportunistic pathogen afflicting immunosuppressed individuals, effective treatments are urgently needed. The genome sequence of C. parvum is approaching completion, and we have used this resource to critically assess nucleotide biosynthesis as a target in C. parvum. Genomic analysis indicates that this parasite is entirely dependent on salvage from the host for its purines and pyrimidines. Metabolic pathway reconstruction and experimental validation in the laboratory further suggest that the loss of pyrimidine de novo synthesis is compensated for by possession of three salvage enzymes. Two of these, uridine kinase-uracil phosphoribosyltransferase and thymidine kinase, are unique to C. parvum within the phylum Apicomplexa. Phylogenetic analysis suggests horizontal gene transfer of thymidine kinase from a proteobacterium. We further show that the purine metabolism in C. parvum follows a highly streamlined pathway. Salvage of adenosine provides C. parvum's sole source of purines. This renders the parasite susceptible to inhibition of inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase, the rate-limiting enzyme in the multistep conversion of AMP to GMP. The inosine 5' monophosphate dehydrogenase inhibitors ribavirin and mycophenolic acid, which are already in clinical use, show pronounced anticryptosporidial activity. Taken together, these data help to explain why widely used drugs fail in the treatment of cryptosporidiosis and suggest more promising targets.