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BioMed Research International
Volume 2013 (2013), Article ID 505240, 8 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/505240
A New Parasiticidal Compound in T. solium Cysticercosis
1Departamento de Inmunología, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, AP 70228, 04510 México, DF, Mexico
2Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, 64460 Monterrey, NL, Mexico
3Unidad de Medicina Experimental, Hospital General de México, 06726 México, DF, Mexico
4Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals, Inc., San diego, CA 92121, USA
Received 31 July 2012; Revised 29 September 2012; Accepted 13 October 2012
Academic Editor: Abhay R. Satoskar
Copyright © 2013 Romel Hernández-Bello et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
The effect of 16α-bromoepiandrosterone (EpiBr), a dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) analogue, was tested on the cysticerci of Taenia solium, both in vitro and in vivo. In vitro treatment of T. solium cultures with EpiBr reduced scolex evagination, growth, motility, and viability in dose- and time-dependent fashions. Administration of EpiBr prior to infection with T. solium cysticerci in hamsters reduced the number and size of developed taenias in the intestine, compared with controls. These effects were associated to an increase in splenocyte proliferation in infected hamsters. These results leave open the possibility of assessing the potential of this hormonal analogue as a possible antiparasite drug, particularly in cysticercosis and taeniosis.