Bacterial Protein Shows Promise For Treating Intestinal Parasites

Scientists at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and Yale University have discovered that a natural protein produced by Bacillus thuringiensis, the bacterium sprayed on crops by organic farmers to reduce insect damage, is highly effective at treating hookworm infections in laboratory animals.

Their discovery, detailed in this week’s early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could pave the way for the development of more effective treatments for hookworm and other soil-transmitted nematode infections, which are a major global health problem in developing countries. Many of the nearly two billion people worldwide infected with these intestinal parasites are children, who are at particular risk for anemia, malnutrition, and growth delay.

The UCSD-Yale team found that a protein produced by the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt, when given orally to laboratory animals infected with hookworm was as effective as mebendazole in eliminating the parasites, curing anemia, and restoring weight gain in the hamsters. Mebendazole is one of the drugs currently recommended to treat infections in humans. The scientists also discovered that this protein, called Cry5B, targets both developing, or larval, stages and adult parasites, and impairs egg excretion by female worms.

Hookworms cause anemia and weight loss by attaching to the intestine and feeding on their host’s blood and nutrients. The researchers report that this naturally-produced protein has the potential to substantially improve this global health problem because it is safe to humans and other vertebrates and can be produced inexpensively in large quantities.

“Our ability to control parasitic nematode infections with chemotherapy on a global scale is dependent on the availability of medicines that are safe, effective, and inexpensive to manufacture,” said Michael Cappello, one of two principal authors of the study and a professor of pediatrics and epidemiology & public health at Yale School of Medicine. “We believe that Bt crystal proteins not only meet, but exceed these essential criteria.”

This discovery is particularly relevant in light of concerns about the potential resistance in human intestinal nematodes to currently available medications. “There are few new agents under development for the treatment of hookworm and other intestinal parasite infections,” said Raffi Aroian, an associate professor at UCSD and co-principal author of the study. “Crystal toxins are safe to humans, mammals and other vertebrates. And it might be possible to improve the efficacy of current treatments by giving mebendazole and Cry5B simultaneously.”

Other authors of the study are Richard Bungiro and Lisa Harrison at Yale School of Medicine and Larry Bischof, Joel Griffitts and Brad Barrows at UCSD.

Aroian and his UCSD colleagues discovered five years ago that the roundworm C. elegans and other nematodes are susceptible to the effects of Cry5B, then known primarily as an insecticide. The toxin forms tiny holes in the membranes of the cells of nematodes and insects. However, since the toxin cannot bind to the cells of mammals or other vertebrates, they do not hurt humans.

“Crystal proteins had been used for decades by organic farmers who sprayed their crops with Bt to kill insects,” said Aroian. “Until now, however, no one has used a purified Cry protein to treat a parasitic nematode.”

At a meeting of the Burroughs-Wellcome Fund, Aroian met Cappello, a Pediatric Infectious Diseases specialist who studies hookworm. They decided to collaborate on a project to see if crystal proteins could be effective against hookworm infections. Three years ago, Aroian and his colleagues purified Cry5B toxin and sent it to Cappello at Yale Medical School, who then tested the compound in a laboratory model of hookworm infection.