Protease activity of Blastocystis hominis

Selena W S Sio, Manoj K Puthia, Alex S Y Lee, Jia Lu, Kevin S W Tan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Parasite-derived proteases are important for the parasite life cycle and the pathogenesis of the disease they produce. Proteases of intestinal protozoan parasite Blastocystis hominis were studied for the first time with azocasein assays and gelatin SDS-PAGE analysis. Parasitic lysates were found to have high protease activity and nine protease bands of low (20-33 kDa) and high (44-75 kDa) molecular weights were reported. Proteases were found to be pH-dependent and highest proteolytic activity was observed at neutral pH. Inhibition studies showed that B. hominis isolate B, like many other protozoan parasites, contains mainly cysteine proteases.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)126-30
JournalParasitology Research
Volume99
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2006 Jul
Externally publishedYes

Subject classification (UKÄ)

  • Cell and Molecular Biology

Free keywords

  • Animals
  • Blastocystis hominis/drug effects
  • Cysteine Endopeptidases/metabolism
  • Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel
  • Humans
  • Peptide Hydrolases/drug effects
  • Protease Inhibitors/pharmacology

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