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Azurin, Plasmodium falciparum Malaria and HIV/AIDS: Inhibition of Parasitic and Viral Growth by Azurin
Anita Chaudhari, Arsenio M. Fialho, Deena Ratner, Phalguni Gupta, Chang Soo Hong, Soumen Kahali, Tohru Yamada, Kasturi Haldar, Wonhwa Cho, Virander S. Chauhan, Tapas K. Das Gupta and Ananda M. Chakrabarty
volume 5 | issue 15
1 august 2006Pages: 1642 - 1648
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Azurin, a member of a family of copper-containing proteins involved in electron transfer called cupredoxins, demonstrates structural features similar to the variable domains of the immunoglobulin superfamily members and to various mammalian cell surface receptors or extracellular domains of intercellular adhesion molecules. An azurin-like protein called Laz with an additional N-terminal 39 amino acid peptide known as H.8 epitope is present on the surface of gonnococci and meningococci. We demonstrate that azurin, Laz and H.8-azurin can bind with the C-terminal cleavage product MSP1-19 of merozoite surface protein 1 (MSP1) of the malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum and significantly reduce parasitemia. Azurin and Laz also bound strongly to HIV-1 gp120. Interestingly, azurin could not only bind to gp120 but also to the intercellular adhesion molecule ICAM-3 and the CD4 receptors of T cells, mimicking the functionality of DC-SIGN with which it also binds avidly. Furthermore, these three proteins significantly suppressed HIV-1 growth in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and such suppression appeared to be occurring at an entry stage in the infection process. The presence of both antimalarial and antiretroviral activity in azurin, H.8-azurin and Laz makes these proteins, or peptides derived from them, potential therapeutic agents in the treatment of malaria, HIV-1 infections or co-infections with both P. falciparum and HIV-1.
We now provide open access to journal articles published online for one year or more. This article may be downloaded at the following link:
Download PDF If the document does not open, please right-click on the link (control-click on a Macintosh) and select the option to save the file to disk.