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Chemical degradation identified Human p38-MAPK as a host target to combat parasitic infections

Singhal, J.; Rawat, N.; Bansal, R.; Srivastava, P.; Ghousepeer, G. D.; Pandey, R. P.; Ranganathan, A.; Singh, S.

2024-12-20 microbiology
10.1101/2024.12.19.629355 bioRxiv
Show abstract

The interplay between host and parasite determines parasite burden and disease outcome. Parasite exploits host signaling pathways like p38-MAPK for its survival and pathogenesis. NR-7h, a proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC) targeting human p38-MAPK was used to assess p38-MAPKs role in Leishmania donovani and Plasmodium falciparum infection in their respective hosts. NR-7h degraded host p38-MAPK in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Degradation of host p38-MAPK by NR-7h reduced parasite load in host cells dose-dependently, implicating the role of p38-MAPK in parasite survival. The modulation of cytokine profiling and oxidative burst upon NR-7h mediated degradation of host p38-MAPK was further correlated with parasite death. The synergistic effect of host p38-MAPK degradation by NR-7h with Amphotericin B enhances the efficacy of parasite-directed therapy. This study underscores the importance of host p38-MAPK for L. donovani and P. falciparum progression and highlights NR-7hs potential in antiparasitic therapy by targeting this pathway.

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