Md. Gomez et al., PHYSIOLOGY AND MOLECULAR-BIOLOGY OF MULTIDRUG-RESISTANCE IN ENTAMOEBA-HISTOLYTICA, Archives of medical research, 27(3), 1996, pp. 421-425
In this paper, we present the most relevant facts on multidrug resista
nce (MDR) in the protozoan parasite Entamoeba histolytica. MDR in E. h
istolytica presents characteristics similar to transformed mammalian c
ells. E. histolytica drug resistant mutants show cross-resistance to s
everal drugs, and as in mammalian cells the resistance is reverted by
verapamil, Six P-glycoprotein-like genes (EhPgp) have been cloned and
characterized. Apparently, four of these genes are transcribed in drug
-resistant mutants (EhPgp1, EhPgp2, EhPgp5 and EhPgp6), although only
EhPgp1, EhPgp5 and EhPgp6 transcripts were clearly detected. The open
reading frame (ORF) of the four completely full length genes is about
1300 amino acids long. EhPgp1, EhPgp2 and EhPgp5 have between 64 and 6
7% of positional identity among them, while EhPgp6 shows 38 to 46% pos
itional identity to the other ameba genes. Interestingly, the phylogen
etic tree suggested that Entamoeba P-glycoproteins are more related to
the human and mouse P-glycoproteins than to the Plasmodium and Leishm
ania P-glycoproteins, Differential gene expression in drug-resistant m
utants was detected when specific probes for each Ehpgp gene were used
. To understand the differential expression of EhPgp genes we initiate
d the characterization of the upstream flanking regions of EhPgp1 and
EhPgp5 genes. Upstream sequences showed between 53 and 66% of position
al identity to Dictyostelium discoideum promoters.