Abstract
Blastocystis is an enteric protistan parasite of zoonotic potential and poorly understood pathogenesis. We have previously reported that Blastocystis cysteine proteases can degrade human secretory IgA and are also responsible for the induction of IL-8 response in colonic epithelial cells in vitro. Differences in virulence between Blastocystis subtypes have been reported recently in both animal models and clinical studies, although cellular mechanisms for these differences are currently unknown. Parasites such as Giardia intestinalis and Entamoeba histolytica have distinct virulent and non-virulent strains which may be attributable to variations in their cysteine proteases. In the present study, variations in cysteine protease activity was observed between avian (subtype 7) and rodent (subtype 4) isolates of Blastocystis with avian isolates exhibiting approximately two times higher peak cysteine protease activity than rodent isolates. Cysteine protease activity and parasite cell size varied over time within cultures of the same isolate. An association between parasite cell size and protease activity was observed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Buret AG (2007) Mechanisms of epithelial dysfunction in giardiasis. Gut 56:316–317
Chen XQ, Singh M, Ho LC, Moe KT, Tan SW, Yap EH (1997) A survey of Blastocystis sp. in rodents. Lab Anim Sci 47:91–94
Clark CG (1997) Riboprinting: a tool for the study of genetic diversity in microorganisms. J Eukaryot Microbiol 44:277–283
Concha C, Monardes A, Even Y, Morin V, Puchi M, Imschenetzky M Genevière AM (2005) Inhibition of cysteine protease activity disturbs DNA replication and prevents mitosis in the early mitotic cell cycles of sea urchin embryos. J Cell Physiol 204:693–703
Coradi ST, Guimarães S (2006) Giardia duodenalis: protein substrates degradation by trophozoite proteases. Parasitol Res 99:131–136
Davis PH, Schulze J, Stanley S Jr (2007) Transcriptomic comparison of two Entamoeba histolytica strains with defined virulence phenotypes identifies new virulence factor candidates and key differences in the expression patterns of cysteine proteases, lectin light chains, and calmodulin. Mol Biochem Parasitol 151:118–128
DuBois KN, Abodeely M, Sajid M, Engel JC, McKerrow JH (2006) Giardia lamblia cysteine proteases. Parasitol Res 99:313–316
Dunn LA, Boreham PF, Stenzel DJ (1989) Ultrastructural variation of Blastocystis hominis stocks in culture. Int J Parasitol 19:43–56
Gantt SM, Myung JM, Briones MR, Li WD, Corey EJ, Omura S, Nussenzweig V, Sinnis P (1998) Proteasome inhibitors block development of Plasmodium spp. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 42:2731–2738
Guimarães S, Sogayar MI, Franco MF (2003) Protease activity in Giardia duodenalis trophozoites of axenic strains isolated from symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz 98:77–81
Hirata KK, Que X, Melendez-Lopez SG, Debonath A, Myers S, Herdman DS, Orozco E, Bhattacharya A, McKerrow JH, Reed SL (2007) A phagocytosis mutant of Entamoeba histolytica is less virulent due to deficient proteinase expression and release. Exp Parasitol 115:192–199
Hussein EM, Hussein AM, Eida MM, Atwa MM (2008) Pathophysiological variability of different genotypes of human Blastocystis hominis Egyptian isolates in experimentally infected rats. Parasitol Res 102:853–860
Jorgensen P, Tyers M (2004) How cells coordinate growth and division. Curr Biol 14:R1014–R1027
Kaneda Y, Horiki N, Cheng XJ, Fujita Y, Maruyama M, Tachibana H (2001) Ribodemes of Blastocystis hominis isolated in Japan. Am J Trop Med Hyg 65:393–396
Kaya S, Cetin ES, Aridoğan BC, Arikan S, Demirci M (2007) Pathogenicity of Blastocystis hominis, a clinical reevaluation. Turkiye Parazitol Derg 31:184–187
Leber AL (1999) Intestinal amoebae. Clin Lab Med 19:601–619, vii
MacPherson DW, MacQueen WM (1994) Morphological diversity of Blastocystis hominis in sodium acetate-acetic acid-formalin-preserved stool samples stained with iron hematoxylin. J Clin Microbiol 32:267–268
Moncada D, Keller K, Chadee K (2005) Entamoeba histolytica-secreted products degrade colonic mucin oligosaccharides. Infect Immun 73:3790–3793
Noël C, Dufernez F, Gerbod D, Edgcomb VP, Delgado- Wiscogliosi P, Ho LC, Singh M, Wintjens R, Sogin ML, Capron M, Pierce R, Zenner L, Viscogliosi E (2005) Molecular phylogenies of Blastocystis isolates from different hosts: implications for genetic diversity, identification of species, and zoonosis. J Clin Microbiol 43:348–355
Panaro M, Cianciulli A, Mitolo V, Mitolo C, Acquafredda A, Brandonisio O, Cavallo P (2007) Caspase-dependent apoptosis of the HCT-8 epithelial cell line induced by the parasite Giardia intestinalis. FEMS Immunol Med Microbiol 51:302–309
Puthia MK, Vaithilingam A, Lu J, Tan KSW (2005) Degradation of human secretory immunoglobulin A by Blastocystis. Parasitol Res 97:386–389
Puthia MK, Sio SW, Lu J, Tan KSW (2006) Blastocystis ratti induces contact-independent apoptosis, F-actin rearrangement, and barrier function disruption in IEC-6 cells. Infect Immun 74:4114–4123
Puthia MK, Lu J, Tan KSW (2008) Blastocystis ratti contains cysteine proteases that mediate interleukin-8 response from human intestinal epithelial cells in an NF-kappaB-dependent manner. Eukaryot Cell 7:435–443
Que X, Kim SH, Sajid M, Eckmann L, Dinarello CA, McKerrow JH, Reed SL (2003) A surface amebic cysteine proteinase inactivates interleukin-18. Infect Immun 71:1274–1280
Reed SL, Keene WE, McKerrow JH (1989) Thiol proteinase expression and pathogenicity of Entamoeba histolytica. J Clin Microbiol 27:2772–2777
Rupeš I (2002) Checking cell size in yeast. Trends Genet 18:479–485
Sharma M, Hirata K, Herdman S, Reed S (1996) Entamoeba invadens: characterization of cysteine proteinases. Exp Parasitol 84:84–91
Sio S, Puthia MK, Lee AS, Lu J, Tan KSW (2006) Protease activity of Blastocystis hominis. Parasitol Res 99:126–130
Stark D, van Hal S, Marriott D, Ellis J, Harkness J (2007) Irritable bowel syndrome: a review on the role of intestinal protozoa and the importance of their detection and diagnosis. Int J Parasitol 37:11–20
Stensvold CR, Suresh GK, Tan KSW, Thompson RC, Traub RJ, Viscogliosi E, Yoshikawa H, Clark CG (2007) Terminology for Blastocystis subtypes—a consensus. Trends Parasitol 23:93–96
Tan KSW (2008) New insights on classification, identification and clinical relevance of Blastocystis spp. Clin Microbiol Rev (in press)
Tan KSW, Singh M, Yap EH (2002) Recent advances in Blastocystis hominis research: hot spots in terra incognita. Int J Parasitol 32:789–804
Ustün S, Turgay N (2006) Blastocystis hominis and bowel diseases. Turkiye Parazitol Derg 30:72–76 (in Turkish)
van der Heijden HM, Landman WJ (2008) In vitro effect of herbal products against Histomonas meleagridis. Vet Parasitol 154:1–7
Ward W, Alvarado L, Rawlings ND, Engel JC, Franklin C, McKerrow JH (1997) A primitive enzyme for a primitive cell: the protease required for excystation of Giardia. Cell 89:437–444
Wong KH, Ng GC, Lin RT, Yoshikawa H, Taylor MB, Tan KSW (2008) Predominance of subtype 3 among Blastocystis isolates from a major hospital in Singapore. Parasitol Res 102:663–670
Zhang Z, Wang L, Seydel KB, Li E, Ankri S, Mirelman D, Stanley SL Jr (2000) Entamoeba histolytica cysteine proteinases with interleukin-1 beta converting enzyme (ICE) activity cause intestinal inflammation and tissue damage in amoebiasis. Mol Microbiol 37:542–548
Zierdt CH, Swan JC (1981) Generation time and growth rate of the human intestinal parasite Blastocystis hominis. J Protozool 28:483–485
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by generous grants from the National Medical Research Council (NMRC/1071/2006) and Biomedical Research Council (BMRC/05/1/21/19/378). We are grateful to Dr. Manoj Kumar for technical help and helpful discussions. We also thank Ms. Ng Geok Choo, Ms. Yin Jing and Mr. Ramachandran for technical support.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mirza, H., Tan, K.S.W. Blastocystis exhibits inter- and intra-subtype variation in cysteine protease activity. Parasitol Res 104, 355–361 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-008-1203-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-008-1203-1