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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, June 2004, p . 2185-2189, Vol . 48, No . 6 Pyruvate Decarboxylase, the Target for Omeprazole in Metronidazole-Resistant and Iron-Restricted Tritrichomonas foetus
Róbert Sutak, Jan Tachezy, Jaroslav Kulda, and Ivan Hrd Department of Parasitology, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic Received 1 August 2003/ Returned for modification 12 November 2003/ Accepted 10 February 2004
Metabolic changes similar to those accompanying the development of metronidazole resistance were described in trichomonads cultivated under iron-restricted conditions . Hydrogenosomal metabolism depends on iron-containing proteins, and a lack of iron in the medium results in the cessation of pyruvate breakdown in the organelles, while the activity of PDC in the cytosol markedly increases (25) . Thus, the dominant role of PDC in the metabolism of both metronidazole-resistant and iron-restricted T . foetus cells qualifies this enzyme as a suitable target for chemotherapeutic intervention . The substituted benzimidazole omeprazole (Fig . 1) is an antiulcer proton pump inhibitor which acts on gastric H+,K+ ATPase (7) . Furthermore, omeprazole has specific activity against Helicobacter pylori in vitro (9) and is used in combination with antibiotics to treat H . pylori infections . However, the mechanism behind its activity against Helicobacter is not understood, but it is not due to the inhibition of ATPase activity (1) . Omeprazole is also effective in killing promastigotes as well as intracellular amastigotes of Leishmania donovani (10), with the likely target being the H+,K+ ATPase on the plasma membrane of the parasite . In this work we report on the purification and characterization of the PDC from metronidazole-resistant T . foetus and demonstrate its inhibition with omeprazole . We further demonstrate the actions of omeprazole against both metronidazole-resistant and iron-restricted T . foetus cells in vitro .
Enzyme assay.
PDC activity was determined spectrophotometrically at 340 nm as the rate of acetaldehyde formation detected as the oxidation of NADH in a coupled reaction with yeast alcohol dehydrogenase (approximately 10 IU/ml) (8) in 50 mM morpholineethanesulfonic acid (MES; pH 6.2)-30 mM pyruvate-0.11 mM NADH at 25°C . The assay mixture also contained known cofactors of PDC: 5 mM Mg2+ (as MgCl2) and 0.5 mM thiamine pyrophosphate . The molar extinction coefficient (
Enzyme purification.
Metronidazole-resistant T . foetus cells (Lub-MR 100) in the late logarithmic phase of growth (4.5 x 106 cells/ml, 3 liters of culture) were harvested by centrifugation, washed with ST buffer (250 mM sucrose, 0.5 mM KCl, 10 mM Tris-HCl [pH 7.2]), and suspended in ST buffer with 50 µg of N Susceptibility assays. To evaluate the susceptibilities of trichomonads to omeprazole, the MICs at which 50% growth inhibition of parasite cultures occur (MIC50s) were determined by a microtiter plate assay under anaerobic conditions in 96-well round-bottom plates . Two strains were tested on a single plate, with each strain tested in five experimental rows and one control row . To prepare a stock solution of the drug, omeprazole was dissolved in 50 mM NaOH and was immediately diluted 10 times with TYM medium to a concentration of 500 µg/ml . The TYM medium was added in 50-µl aliquots to 72 of 96 wells (rows A to F) . Then, the stock solution of omeprazole was added in 50-µl aliquots to wells 1 to 5 and 7 to 11 of row A, while wells 6 and 12 received 50 µl of the control solution (TYM with 5 mM NaOH) . Five twofold serial dilutions were made starting from row A . Finally, 150 µl of the trichomonad suspension in TYM medium (5 x 104 cells/ml) was added to each well of a pertinent strain sector . The resulting drug concentrations ranged from 100 to 6.25 µg/ml . The plates were incubated for 48 h in an anaerobic jar with an Anaerobic System BR 38 (Oxoid) to generate an anaerobic atmosphere . After incubation, the cell density was determined in five wells for each drug concentration by counting with a hemacytometer, and the counts were compared to those in the control row . The MIC50 was defined as the lowest concentration of omeprazole at which the cell density decreased to 50% or more of that of the control . The results are based on two independent experiments, each run in duplicate for each strain, and are expressed as mean ± standard deviation of the mean MIC50 . The susceptibilities of the trichomonads to metronidazole were determined in the same assay system, with minor modifications: each strain was tested in a separate plate, and the twofold dilution series was extended (rows 1 to 12) to obtain final drug concentrations ranging from 200 to 0.098 µg/ml for the metronidazole-resistant strain (Lub-MR 100) and from 50 to 0.024 µg/ml for the iron-restricted and metronidazole-susceptible parent strain (Lub-1 MIP) . The metronidazole (Sigma) stock solution was prepared by dissolving 6.4 or 3.2 mg of the drug per ml in distilled water by autoclaving and was further diluted with TYM medium . Analytical methods. The chromatographic fractions were analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) with Coomassie staining . The Mr value of the native protein was determined by gel filtration on a Sephacryl S 300 HR column (Amersham-Pharmacia Biotech) calibrated with thyreoglobulin (669 kDa), apoferritin (443 kDa), ß-amylase (200 kDa), alcohol dehydrogenase (150 kDa), albumin (66 kDa), ovalbumin (45 kDa), and carbonic anhydrase (29 kDa) (all from Sigma) . Protein concentrations were determined by the method of Lowry . Antibody production and immunoblotting. Antibodies against the purified PDC were raised in BALB/c mice . Each injection used 50 to 100 µg of PDC that has been excised from SDS-polyacrylamide gels and homogenized with phosphate-buffered saline . Two mice were injected intraperitoneally four times at 10-day intervals, and the antiserum was obtained 1 week after the fourth immunization . The cytosolic fractions of metronidazole-sensitive, metronidazole-resistant, and iron-restricted trichomonads were transblotted onto an Immobilon P membrane (Millipore), incubated with anti-PDC antiserum, and probed with anti-mouse immunoglobulin G peroxidase conjugate (Sigma) . The proteins were visualized by a West Pico enhanced chemiluminescence assay (Pierce) .
The pH profile of PDC activity showed a relatively narrow optimum in the range of pH 5.75 to 6.5 . The Km for pyruvate was 0.62 ± 0.08 mM . In the presence of 100 mM NaCl, the Km for pyruvate increased to 1.25 ± 0.15 mM, indicating the inhibitory effect of Cl . A similar effect of Cl was observed with PDC from Oryza sativa (21) . Comparison of PDC activity in metronidazole-sensitive, metronidazole-resistant, and iron-restricted strains. The activities of PDC in the cytosols of metronidazole-sensitive, metronidazole-resistant, and iron-restricted cells were compared . In the resistant and iron-restricted trichomonads, the specific activities of PDC were more than 30 and 20 times higher, respectively, in comparison with that in the metronidazole-sensitive strain (specific activities, 76.2 ± 3.9, 52.0 ± 5.6, and 2.06 ± 0.17 mU/mg in the cytosolic fractions of metronidazole-resistant, iron-restricted, and metronidazole-sensitive strains, respectively) . Accordingly, immunodetection of PDC on the Western blot demonstrated the overexpression of PDC in metronidazole-resistant as well as iron-restricted T . foetus (Fig . 2B) . Inhibition of PDC by omeprazole. To investigate the inhibitory effect of omeprazole on T . foetus PDC activity, the purified enzyme in a complete assay mixture without pyruvate was preincubated for 15 min with various concentrations of the drug, and then the activity was measured by starting the reaction with pyruvate . The concentration of omeprazole required for 50% inhibition of PDC activity (IC50) was 16 ± 2 µg/ml (Fig . 3) . Since the PDC assay is based on monitoring of the consumption of acetaldehyde by alcohol dehydrogenase, we checked for the effect of omeprazole on this auxiliary enzyme . The inhibition was attributable solely to PDC, as omeprazole (50 µg/ml) had no effect on alcohol dehydrogenase .
Susceptibility to metronidazole. The susceptibilities of all three T . foetus strains used in this study to metronidazole were tested by the microtiter plate assay . As expected, parental strain Lub-1 MIP was sensitive to the drug, with a mean MIC50 of 0.052 ± 0.015 µg/ml, while the mean MIC50 for its resistant derivative, Lub-MR 100, was 66.7 ± 22.2 µg/ml . The iron-restricted trichomonads were fully susceptible to metronidazole, with a mean MIC50 of 0.026 ± 0.0036 µg/ml .
In order to verify the target of omeprazole, we have purified and partially characterized the PDC from metronidazole-resistant T . foetus . To our knowledge, this is the first PDC characterized from a protozoan . PDC is common in plants, yeasts, and fungi and also occurs in certain helminths; it is absent from higher animals and is rare in prokaryotes (12, 13) . The biochemical and kinetic properties (tetrameric structure, subunit size, pH optimum, and affinity for pyruvate) of the T . foetus PDC are similar to those of most PDCs purified from other organisms (12, 20) . T . foetus PDC turned out to be quite potently inhibited by omeprazole, with IC50s of about 16 ± 2 µg/ml . The inhibition was most likely competitive due to the structural similarity of omeprazole to thiamine pyrophosphate, a cofactor of PDC and other enzymes, namely, decarboxylases and transketolases . Competitive inhibition by omeprazole has already been described for the PDC from a eubacterium, Zymomonas mobilis (19) . In T . foetus, PDC seems to be the key cytosolic enzyme involved in the development of anaerobic resistance to metronidazole . It was shown that the activity of PDC increases about seven times in the fully resistant strain in comparison with that in the metronidazole-sensitive one, which is consistent with the fact that metronidazole-resistant trichomonads convert glucose almost completely to ethanol (2) . In this study we have used a different T . foetus strain (Lub-1 MIP) and its metronidazole-resistant derivative and detected even more profound differences in the PDC activities between the strains . PDC also appears to be indispensable for T . foetus cells cultivated under iron-restricted conditions . Similarly to metronidazole-resistant strains, trichomonads cultivated under iron-limited conditions downregulate the hydrogenosomal metabolism, which is dependent on iron-containing enzymes, and strongly upregulate the PDC-dependent pathway of ethanol formation in the cytosol (25) . In agreement with these observations, we confirmed the overexpression of PDC protein in metronidazole-resistant cells as well as iron-restricted cells by immunoblotting . In contrast, both the PDC activity and protein were barely detectable in the parent strain . In addition to its inhibitory effect on PDC, omeprazole also has antitrichomonad activity in vitro . However, only the metronidazole-resistant trichomonads and trichomonads maintained under iron-restricted conditions were significantly affected by the drug, which is consistent with the role of PDC in these strains . Metronidazole-sensitive trichomonads that are not dependent on ethanol fermentation and that express very little PDC were not significantly inhibited in the presence of the highest omeprazole concentration used in the experiments . These data strongly suggest that the target of the antitrichomonad activity of omeprazole is PDC . Interestingly, the cells grown under iron-limited conditions did not acquire metronidazole resistance, indicating that the pathway of metronidazole reductive activation is still functional in these cells . This is in agreement with our earlier work, in which we reported on the changes of pyruvate metabolism induced by iron limitation in the same T . foetus strains as those used in this study . In these cells, the activities of hydrogenosomal enzymes, namely, the drug-activating pyruvate:ferredoxin oxidoreductase, are present at low levels (25), which, however, are still sufficient to activate the drug (16) . Our work demonstrates for the first time the antimicrobial activity of omeprazole due to the inhibition of an enzyme other than ATPase . Plasma membrane K+,H+ ATPase appears to be the target of omeprazole in L . donovani promastigotes and amastigotes, with the omeprazole mode of action presumably being similar to that against the gastric K+,H+ ATPase (10), in which protonation of omeprazole to sulfenamide at acidic pH is required for the inhibition of ATPase (17) . Omeprazole is also used in combination with antibiotics for the treatment of human infections caused by H . pylori; however, the drug target in H . pylori still remains to be elucidated . PDC likely plays a role in the metabolism of various other pathogens . It was found in Candida glabrata (Q . Wang et al., unpublished data; GenBank accession number AF545432), and the PDC gene regulator was identified in Candida albicans (11) . The PDC gene was found in the genome of the intracellular human pathogen Mycoplasma penetrans (22), and the genomes of Mycobacterium leprae (4) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (3) also contain the gene coding for pyruvate or indolepyruvate decarboxylase . Potent inhibitors of this enzyme, which is absent from mammals, could therefore prove to be useful against pathogens that are dependent on anaerobic pyruvate fermentation .
We thank Michaela Marcin
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