Abstract
Schistosomiasis is a debilitating infection provoked by parasitic flatworms called schistosomes. The species Schistosoma mansoni is endemic in Africa, where it causes intestinal schistosomiasis. Recently, an α-carbonic anhydrase (CA, EC 4.2.1.1) was cloned and characterized from this organism and designated as SmCA. The protein is expressed in the tegument (skin) of S. mansoni at the host-parasite interface. Recombinant SmCA possesses high catalytic activity in the CO2 hydration reaction, similar to that of human CA isoform II with a kcat of 1.2 × 106 s-1 and a kcat/KM of 1.3 × 108 M-1·s-1. It has been found that schistosomes whose SmCA gene is suppressed using RNA interference are unable to establish a robust infection in mice, suggesting that the chemicals that inhibit SmCA function should have the same debilitating effect on the parasites. In this study, a collection of aromatic/heterocyclic sulfonamides were investigated as possible SmCA inhibitors. Several sulfonamides inhibited SmCA with medium to weak potency (KI values of 737.2 nM-9.25 μM), whereas some heterocyclic compounds inhibited the enzyme with KI values in the range of 124-325 nM. The α-CA from S. mansoni, SmCA, is proposed as a new anti-schistosomiasis drug target.