Disease relevance of Encephalitozoon

• Fumagillin is highly effective when used topically to treat ocular infections with Encephalitozoon hellem or Encephalitozoon intestinalis but is too toxic for systemic use [1].
• Since patients infected with Encephalitozoon spp. are known to respond favorably to albendazole, identification of the parasite to the species level would be invaluable in the treatment of disseminated microsporidiosis [2].
• A patient with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and untreated Encephalitozoon (Septata) intestinalis microsporidiosis leading to small bowel perforation. Response to albendazole [3].
• Susceptibility of IFN-gamma or IL-12 knock-out and SCID mice to infection with two microsporidian species, Encephalitozoon cuniculi and E. intestinalis [4].

High impact information on Encephalitozoon

• METHODS: Eighteen subjects with chronic diarrhea caused by Enterocytozoon bieneusi that had not responded symptomatically to albendazole and 1 untreated subject with Encephalitozoon intestinalis received 1 month of thalidomide, 100 mg nocte [5].
• Preliminary observations suggest that Septata intestinalis and Encephalitozoon infections may be cured with albendazole [6].
• The Encephalitozoon cuniculi mRNA cap (guanine N-7) methyltransferase Ecm1 has been characterized structurally but not biochemically [7].
• Encephalitozoon cuniculi mRNA cap (guanine N-7) methyltransferase: methyl acceptor specificity, inhibition BY S-adenosylmethionine analogs, and structure-guided mutational analysis [7].
• The helix P8 of MRP RNA from microsporidia Encephalitozoon cuniculi is identical to that of P RNA [8].

Chemical compound and disease context of Encephalitozoon

• Overt fatal and chronic subclinical Encephalitozoon cuniculi microsporidiosis in a colony of captive emperor tamarins (Saguinus imperator) [9].

Biological context of Encephalitozoon

• Analysis of the glycosylation of Encephalitozoon hellem PTP1 suggested that it is modified by O-linked mannosylation, and ConA binds to these O-linked mannose residues [10].
• In the present study, by using indirect immunofluorescence technique (IFAT), Western blot, and recombinant antigens of the spore wall (SWP1) and polar tube (PTP1, PTP2, and PTP3 ), we analyzed the IgG antibody response of a laboratory worker who was infected with Encephalitozoon cuniculi [11].
• Phylogenetic relationships of methionine aminopeptidase 2 among Encephalitozoon species and genotypes of microsporidia [12].
• Nucleotide sequences of DNA fragments of Encephalitozoon cuniculi amplified by polymerase chain reaction with primers regarded as specific for Echinococcus [13].
• A comparison with the 18 RRM proteins of the obligate intracellular parasite Encephalitozoon cuniculi revealed just 3 RRM proteins which appear to be conserved at the primary sequence level throughout eukaryotic evolution: poly(A) binding protein, the rRNA-processing protein MRD1, and the nuclear cap binding protein [14].

Anatomical context of Encephalitozoon

• The efficacy of fenbendazole for preventing an experimental infection of Encephalitozoon cuniculi and for eliminating the spores from the central nervous system of naturally infected rabbits was investigated [15].
• Spores of the microsporidian parasitic protozoan Encephalitozoon hellem were purified and incubated at 37 degrees C in a solution with an electrolyte composition similar to that of mammalian extracellular fluid, and in solution in which the calcium had been replaced with 0.2 mM EGTA [16].

Associations of Encephalitozoon with chemical compounds

• In vitro efficacy of nikkomycin Z against the human isolate of the microsporidian species Encephalitozoon hellem [17].
• The present study investigated the viability and infectivity of spores of Encephalitozoon cuniculi that had been exposed to resveratrol (RESV), a natural phytoalexin found in grapes and red wine [18].
• Developmental expression of a tandemly repeated, glycine- and serine-rich spore wall protein in the microsporidian pathogen Encephalitozoon cuniculi [19].
• In vitro susceptibilities of the microsporidia Encephalitozoon cuniculi, Encephalitozoon hellem, and Encephalitozoon intestinalis to albendazole and its sulfoxide and sulfone metabolites [20].
• The complete sequence of an acidic proline-rich polar tube protein (renamed PTP1) has been previously reported for Encephalitozoon cuniculi and E. hellem [21].

Gene context of Encephalitozoon

• An encephalitozoon cuniculi ortholog of the RNA polymerase II carboxyl-terminal domain (CTD) serine phosphatase Fcp1 [22].
• Resistance to Encephalitozoon intestinalis is associated with interferon-gamma and interleukin-2 cytokines in infected mice [23].
• Polymerase chain reaction and culture confirmation of disseminated Encephalitozoon cuniculi in a patient with AIDS: successful therapy with albendazole [24].
• Encephalitozoon (Septata) intestinalis affects AIDS patients with CD4 counts <100/microL, causing intestinal and disseminated disease [25].
• Seven isolates of Encephalitozoon hellem from human immunodeficiency virus-positive patients were genotyped through a series of markers: the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of ribosomal DNA, the polar tube protein (PTP) gene, and two intergenic spacers (IGS-TH and IGS-HZ) whose polymorphism is newly reported [26].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Encephalitozoon

• Effects of nifedipine, metronidazole, and nitric oxide donors on spore germination and cell culture infection of the microsporidia Encephalitozoon hellem and Encephalitozoon intestinalis [27].
• Detection by an immunofluorescence test of Encephalitozoon intestinalis spores in routinely formalin-fixed stool samples stored at room temperature [28].
• Ultrastructural immunocytochemistry with murine antibodies against protein bands separated by sodium dodecylsulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis allowed the assignment of several proteins to the polar tube (34, 75 and 170 kDa in Glugea, 35, 55 and 150 kDa in Encephalitozoon) [29].
• Using transmission electron microscopy, immuno-electron microscopy, and biochemical techniques such as 2-D electrophoresis and immunoblotting, actin was found in all biological stages of the microsporidia Encephalitozoon hellem and Encephalitozoon cuniculi [30].
• An indirect ELISA for detection of Encephalitozoon cuniculi infection in farmed blue foxes (Alopex lagopus) [31].

References