Cytopathic effects of Blastocystis hominis on Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) and adeno carcinoma HT29 cell cultures

Abstract

SummaryBlastocystis hominis isolates from asymptomatic carriers and symptomatic patients were cultured in vitro, purified from the co-cultivated bacterial flora and tested for cytopathic effects on monolayers of Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells and Adeno Carcinoma HT29 cells. In the case of the CHO cells, living B. hominis cells and B. hominis cell lysates were able to cause significant cytopathic effects, which were dependent on the concentration of cells employed. Destruction of the cell monolayers was observed to the same extent with patient isolates derived from healthy or symptomatic B. hominis carriers. HT29 cells were less susceptible: B. hominis cells and cell lysates caused only minor effects which were not statistically significant. Culture filtrates of B. hominis exhibited cytopathic potential on CHO and HT29 cells; however, the control which consisted of filtrates from Robinson's cultures in which B. hominis failed to grow showed similar effects, too. Therefore the culture supernatants could not be proven to produce a specific cytopathic effect on CHO and HT29 cells.keywords Blastocystis hominis, patient isolates, pathogenicity, cytopathic effects correspondence Dr. Brigitte Walderich,

Blastocystis rattiInduces Contact-Independent Apoptosis, F-Actin Rearrangement, and Barrier Function Disruption in IEC-6 Cells

“…The ability of Blastocystis to kill host cells in vitro was observed previously (48), but the mechanism of cell death was not noted. In clinical cases of Blastocystis infections, evidence of intestinal epithelium damage was documented (12), but specific features of cell apoptosis were not reported.…”

“…In vitro studies have demonstrated that Blastocystis is capable of causing significant cytopathic effects on Chinese hamster ovary cells (48). Recently, a variety of intestinal pathogens were found to induce apoptosis in intestinal epithelial cells, and their association with pathogenicity was suggested (11,14,20,22,29,46).…”

New Insights on Classification, Identification, and Clinical Relevance of Blastocystis spp

“…Cells and lysates of Blastocystis spp. isolated from asymptomatic carriers and symptomatic patients induced cytopathic effects on Chinese hamster ovary cells but not in HT-29 colonic epithelial cells (286). The lack of cytopathic effects on HT-29 was validated in a later study, which was also absent in T-84 cell lines exposed to Blastocystis (139).…”

“…A few studies have sought to investigate the effects of Blastocystis spp. on mammalian cell cultures (139,191,192,286). Cells and lysates of Blastocystis spp.…”

Biochemical characterization of a mitochondrial-like organelle from Blastocystis sp. subtype 7

“…Endoscopic and permeability studies of the intestine in a cohort study of Blastocystis-infected immunocompetent individuals failed to find any significant intestinal inflammation or impairment of the intestinal permeability barrier (Zuckerman et al, 1994). Fresh Blastocystis isolates, though, have been demonstrated to cause significant cytopathology of Chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO), adenocarcinoma HT-29 cells and rat intestinal epithelia (IEC-6) cells in culture (Puthia et al, 2006;Walderich et al, 1998). Metronidazole, paromomycin and ketoconazole have been used as therapeutic agents with mixed success (Zierdt et al, 1983;Dunn & Boreham, 1991;Haresh et al, 1999;Nanba et al, 2003).…”