Chao-Pellicer Javier, Arberas-Jiménez Iñigo, Sifaoui Ines, Díaz-Marrero Ana R, Fernández José J, Jamerson Melissa, Piñero José E, Lorenzo-Morales Jacob
Instituto Universitario de Enfermedades Tropicales y Salud Pública de Canarias, Universidad de La Laguna, Avda. Astrofísico Fco. Sánchez, S/N, 38203 La Laguna, Tenerife, Islas Canarias, Spain.
Departamento de Obstetricia y Ginecología, Pediatría, Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública, Toxicología, Medicina Legal y Forense y Parasitología, Universidad de La Laguna, 38200 La laguna, Tenerife, Islas Canarias, Spain.
Mar Drugs. 2025 Jul 30;23(8):306. doi: 10.3390/md23080306.
Primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) is a rapidly progressive and fulminant disease that affects the central nervous system caused by the free-living amoeba . The adhesion to extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins is considered as one of the key steps in the success of the infection and could represent an interesting target to be explored in the prevention and treatment of the disease. In this work, the effect of two sesquiterpenes with proven anti- activity on the adhesion of the parasite was evaluated using an in vitro ECM-based model, compared with the reference drugs amphotericin B and staurosporine. Both laurinterol and (+)-elatol inhibited the adhesion of the trophozoites to the main proteins of the ECM when treating them at different concentrations and exposure times. This work not only reinforces the therapeutic potential of laurinterol and (+)-elatol against infection but also introduces the application of ECM-based adhesion assays as a novel and valuable tool for screening candidate compounds that disrupt host-pathogen interactions critical to PAM pathogenesis.
原发性阿米巴脑膜脑炎（PAM）是一种由自由生活的变形虫引起的、影响中枢神经系统的快速进展性暴发性疾病。对细胞外基质（ECM）蛋白的黏附被认为是感染成功的关键步骤之一，可能是该疾病预防和治疗中一个值得探索的有趣靶点。在这项研究中，使用基于体外ECM的模型，评估了两种具有已证实抗活性的倍半萜对寄生虫黏附的影响，并与参考药物两性霉素B和星形孢菌素进行了比较。当以不同浓度和暴露时间处理时，月桂萜醇和（+）-扁枝杉醇均能抑制滋养体对ECM主要蛋白的黏附。这项研究不仅强化了月桂萜醇和（+）-扁枝杉醇抗感染的治疗潜力，还引入了基于ECM的黏附试验作为一种新型且有价值的工具，用于筛选破坏对PAM发病机制至关重要的宿主-病原体相互作用的候选化合物。
