Mechanistic and single-dose in vivo therapeutic studies of Cry5B anthelmintic action against hookworms.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Hookworm infections are one of the most important parasitic infections of humans worldwide, considered by some second only to malaria in associated disease burden. Single-dose mass drug administration for soil-transmitted helminths, including hookworms, relies primarily on albendazole, which has variable efficacy. New and better hookworm therapies are urgently needed. Bacillus thuringiensis crystal protein Cry5B has potential as a novel anthelmintic and has been extensively studied in the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans. Here, we ask whether single-dose Cry5B can provide therapy against a hookworm infection and whether C. elegans mechanism-of-action studies are relevant to hookworms.

Methodology/principal findings

To test whether the C. elegans invertebrate-speci

SUBMITTER: Hu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3493396 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature