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Lactase can target cellular differentiation of Acanthamoeba castellanii belonging to the T4 genotype

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Abstract

The free living Acanthamoeba spp. are ubiquitous amoebae associated with potentially blinding disease known as Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK) and a fatal central nervous system infection granulomatous amoebic encephalitis (GAE). With the inherent ability of cellular differentiation, it can phenotypically transform to a dormant cyst form from an active trophozoite form. Acanthamoeba cysts are highly resistant to therapeutic agents as well as contact lens cleaning solutions. One way to tackle drug resistance against Acanthamoeba is by inhibiting the formation of cysts from trophozoites. The biochemical analysis showed that the major component of Acanthamoeba cyst wall is composed of carbohydrate moieties such as galactose and glucose. The disaccharide of galactose and glucose is lactose. In this study, we analyzed the potential of lactase enzyme to target carbohydrate moieties of cyst walls. Amoebicidal assessment showed that lactase was ineffective against trophozoite of A. castellanii but enhanced amoebicidal effects of chlorhexidine. The lactase enzyme did not show any toxicity against normal human keratinocyte cells (HaCaT) at the tested range. Hence, lactase can be used for further assessment for development of potential therapeutic agents in the management of Acanthamoeba infection as well as formulation of effective contact lens disinfectants.

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The data is available upon request to the author.

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Funding

The authors acknowledge the financial support of Sunway University, Malaysia (Internal Grant Scheme 2022), GRTIN-IGS(02)-DBS-10–2022. Ruqaiyyah Siddiqui and Naveed Ahmed Khan are supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), USA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, School of Medical and Life Sciences, Sunway University, Subang Jaya, 47500, Selangor, Malaysia

    Fathimath Afaaf Simau, Usman Ahmed & Ayaz Anwar

  2. International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, H. E. J. Research Institute of Chemistry, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan

    Khalid Mohammed Khan

  3. Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Institute for Research and Medical Consultations (IRMC), Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia

    Khalid Mohammed Khan

  4. Microbiota Research Center, Istinye University, Istanbul, 34010, Turkey

    Naveed Ahmed Khan & Ruqaiyyah Siddiqui

  5. Institute of Biological Chemistry, Biophysics and Bioengineering, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, UK

    Ruqaiyyah Siddiqui

  6. Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Taif University, 21944, Taif, Saudi Arabia

    Ahmad M. Alharbi

  7. Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Baha University, 65799, Al-Baha, Saudi Arabia

    Hasan Alfahemi

Authors
  1. Fathimath Afaaf Simau
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  2. Usman Ahmed
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  3. Khalid Mohammed Khan
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  4. Naveed Ahmed Khan
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  5. Ruqaiyyah Siddiqui
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  6. Ahmad M. Alharbi
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  8. Ayaz Anwar
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Contributions

AA and NAK conceptualized the study amid discussions with KMK and RS. FAS and UA carried out all experimental work amid critical discussions with NAK, AMA, HF, and AA. FAS, AA, and UA prepared the first draft, while KMK, RS, HF, AMA, and NAK corrected and finalized the manuscript. All authors approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Naveed Ahmed Khan or Ayaz Anwar.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Section Editor: Sutherland Maciver.

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Fathimath Afaaf Simau and Usman Ahmed contributed equally.

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Simau, F.A., Ahmed, U., Khan, K.M. et al. Lactase can target cellular differentiation of Acanthamoeba castellanii belonging to the T4 genotype. Parasitol Res 123, 117 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-024-08131-2

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