Abstract
While the importance of cryptosporidiosis in immunocompromised persons is well known, the prevalence of Cryptosporidium spp. in cancer patients is not clear. The current study was designed to assess the occurrence and genetic characteristics of Cryptosporidium spp. in patients with gastrointestinal (GI) cancer in Egypt. Stool samples were collected from 100 patients with GI malignancies and 20 healthy individuals without any GI manifestations (control group). They were screened by microscopy and the immunochromatographic RIDA®QUICK Cryptosporidium kit. Subtyping of Cryptosporidium spp. was conducted by sequence analysis of the glycoprotein 60 (gp60) locus. Sociodemographic, environmental data and information on GI symptoms, cancer types, and clinical treatment were obtained via a questionnaire. By microscopy and RIDA®QUICK, only 7% (7/100) of GI cancer patients were positive for Cryptosporidium, compared with 40% (40/100) by gp60 nPCR. No positives were obtained from the control group. Male sex (P = 0.02) and younger age (P = 0.004) were major Cryptosporidium risk factors for infection. The occurrence of Cryptosporidium was also significantly more frequent (P = 0.003) in watery stool samples. Sequence analysis of the gp60 amplicons (~ 400 bp) identified a novel C. parvum subtype with nine TCA repeats and eleven ACATCA repeats. A formal subtype designation could not be made due to the short sequence length. More studies should be conducted to verify the common occurrence of this unusual C. parvum subtype and establish its genetic identity.
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Data availability
The material obtained in this study is stored at the Institute of Parasitology, Faculty of medicine, and Veterinary Medicine, Beni-Suef University. Representative nucleotide sequences obtained in this study were submitted to the GenBank® under the accession numbers OP132396– OP132400.
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The authors appreciate the physicians that helped in samples collection.
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The current work was covered financially through a project from Beni-Suef University, Egypt, University Performance Development Center, Support and Project Finance Office.
Lihua Xiao received support from the 111 Project (D20008) of the Ministry of Education of China.
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MA, WM, and DH funding request. MA, WM, AH, WA, and DH contributed to the work design and conceptualization. MA, WM, AH, and DH contributed to samples collection and the traditional examination. MA, WM, UR, LX, WA, and DH contributed to molecular part. LX sequencing analysis. MA, WM, UR, LX, WA, and DH writing original draft and the final version. UR, LX, WA review and editing, supervision.
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Ali, M.I., Wahab, W.M.A.E., Hassan, A. et al. Detection of unusual Cryptosporidium parvum subtype in patients with gastrointestinal cancer in Egypt. Parasitol Res 122, 597–606 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-022-07761-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-022-07761-8