This Month In Blastocystis Research (SEP 2013)

This month has been extremely busy, and I've been preoccupied with networking, meetings and conferences.

I want to thank the arrangers of the Scandinavian-Baltic Society for Parasitology (SBSP) meeting (which was this year merged with The 8th European Congress of Tropical Medicine & Tropical Medicine)  for arranging a conference session on 'Intestinal Protists - Diagnostic Tools and Emerging Trends', which I was very honoured to chair. One of the four talks was unfortunately cancelled, but the rest of the talks were centred on Blastocystis, and due to great speakers and a very engaged and experienced audience, it turned out to be an extremely interesting and awarding session, sporting topics such as in-vitro susceptibility testing, subtype distribution in different cohorts, diagnostics, and 'Blastomics' advances. The conference took place in the Tivoli Congress Center in Copenhagen. Excellent facilities, but apparently catering other than tap water, tea + coffee could not be accommodated in the congress budget; but then again, it was a big meeting with more than 1,000 people registered (unconfirmed). Anyway, I look forward to more meetings and symposia focusing on Blastocystis! For more on this, stay tuned!

PubMed-wise there is not really much to include in the 'This Month in Blastocystis Research' series though, and I think I'll skip it this time. However, for those with an insatiable appetite for scientific papers on Blastocystis, I have very good news: The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Online Research Library, which can be accessed here, apparently offers free download of accepted papers (i.e. the original files accepted by the various journals and not the printed versions). A search on Blastocystis renders about 25 publications (not of all of which are specifically on Blastocystis, though), so there should be plenty to read...

Thanks to our excellent librarian here at the SSI, my entertainment for the weekend will be 'Studies on Human Intestinal Protozoa' published in Acta Medica Scandinavica (Supplementum LXX) in 1935 by Ruth Svensson - her doctoral thesis dedicated to Dr Clifford Dobell...

Fellowships in Blastocystis Research

We are continually looking into the opportunity for funding for research in Blastocystis and we are on the lookout for young researchers with a MSc or PhD degree who want to spend at least a couple of years in Blastocystis research. Right now, taking an omics approach to studying the clinical significance of Blastocystis is extremely relevant of course, given the amount of genetic diversity of the parasite, its apparent association to groups of bacteria/bacterial richness, its varied distribution across different cohorts, and the general availability of ngs technology and data pipelines.

I'm going to focus my next funding application on the integration of metagenomics, metabolomics, comparative genomics, and transcriptomics, and I'm hoping to find one or two persons with track records documenting extensive experience with one or more of these disciplines and who take an interest in parasites/parasitic protists in general and/or in Blastocystis in particular.

Please note that this is NOT a job offer, but merely an invitation to get into some sort of a dialogue. What we can offer is access to samples, strains, technology, and a Blastocystis-centred network.

Please do not answer in the comments section, but contact me directly (mail/phone) for further info + expression of interest. You'll find a link to my contact details in the previous blog post. Thanks.

Yes, we do take orders!

I get an increasing amount of requests for Blastocystis testing (and testing for other parasites as well, for instance Dientamoeba fragilis). Initially, I was happy to do this for free, but now the requests are so regular that I need to add a fee to the tests.

And yes, we do take orders! As the regular reader of this blog would know by now, I run the part of our  Parasitology lab at Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, that deals with Blastocystis diagnostics and diagnostics for intestinal parasites in general. I have been developing and optimising molecular Blastocystis diagnostics for years, something which is also witnessed by my scientific production. Please note that we take orders only from health authorities. This means that if you want to have samples tested in our lab, you should contact your GP/specialist/whatever, and have him/her put the order through.

For general screening, I recommend real-time PCR analysis. For evaluation of treatment I recommend adding Blastocystis culture (a positive culture means ongoing Blastocystis infection, while DNA-based tools such as our real-time PCR will detect both dead and live organisms). We also perform subtyping of Blastocystis upon request.

In cases where colleagues want to outsource diagnostic work related to research, we are currently opening up for the possibility of testing large panels of faecal samples (fresh, frozen, or ethanol-preserved) for Blastocystis, Dientamoeba fragilis or other parasites by molecular assays (including DNA extraction) - and - if requested - in combination with traditional microscopy of faecal concentrates.

A selection of our analyses for parasites can be viewed here.

Our parasitology lab is merged with the mycology lab, and therefore we have plenty of opportunity to test the same stool sample for parasites and yeasts (e.g. Candida), if requested. As a new feature, Blastocystis+Dientamoeba+Candida analyses can now be requested in combination as a 'package' with a discount. We are happy to send out test tubes and transport envelopes, but I repeat that charges will apply.

Research-wise, we are currently taking different approaches to detecting and differentiating non-human eukaryotic DNA/RNA in human faecal samples, among these the GUT 18S approach.

For further inquiries and information, please do not hesitate to contact me (contact details can be found here).

Relevant articles on molecular diagnostics for Blastocystis detection and subtyping:

Stensvold CR, Ahmed UN, Andersen LO, & Nielsen HV (2012). Development and evaluation of a genus-specific, probe-based, internal-process-controlled real-time PCR assay for sensitive and specific detection of Blastocystis spp. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 50 (6), 1847-51 PMID: 22422846

Stensvold CR (2013). Comparison of sequencing (barcode region) and sequence-tagged-site PCR for Blastocystis subtyping. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 51 (1), 190-4 PMID: 23115257

Final TM&IH Copenhagen Conference Programme Now Available.

The final programme for 8th European Congress on Tropical Medicine & International Health and the 5th Conference of the Scandinavian-Baltic Society for Parasitology (merged venue) has now appeared and can be downloaded here. Abstract book (including poster abstracts) not yet available, but there will be a few that include Blastocystis. For those attending the conference and interested in Blastocystis, I recommend session 6.3.3. (11 SEP 2013).

Read more here. 

Birds of America

Yesterday evening, I was watching another compelling BBC production, broadcast on Danish television: Earthflight, North America. In quite a unique way, the viewers got the rare opportunity to see through the eyes of birds such as eagles, geese, and pelicans and follow birds as they were migrating, escaping, hunting for prey, etc. It made me think of the 19th century masterpiece 'Birds of America' by John James Audubon, which can be viewed in the National History Museum in London. The book features 435 stunning hand-coloured plates that show birds life-size, in natural positions and in their natural habitat.

One of the things that I find interesting - and quite unexplored - is Blastocystis in birds. By 'unexplored' I mean that relatively little sampling has been done, and so the number of observations of Blastocystis in birds is still limited compared to other types of hosts. However, there is a brand new paper out in 'Infection, Genetics and Evolution' which includes observations on Blastocystis in birds (of America!).

You see, I was invited in on a study by colleagues in Colombia who had access to DNA from quite a few faecal samples from a number of host species, including feral birds, and what we found confirms the quite unambiguous trend seen so far: Birds - no matter where on this planet - appear to be colonised mainly by ST6 and ST7. As a matter of fact, in the present study only ST6 was seen in almost 50 Colombian passerine birds of varying species, most of which I believe are limited in geographical distribution to the Americas: Passer domesticus, Thraupis episcopus, Oryzoborus maximiliani, Sicalis flaveola, and Petrochelidon pyrrhonota. Moreover, only one allele of ST6, allele 122, was identified. Notably, the prevalence of Blastocystis in the sampled bird population was 90%. I believe that this is the first official report on Blastocystis in passeriformes. Other major groups of birds previously sampled include galliformes, anseriformes, and ratites (Stensvold et al., 2009; Alfellani et al., 2013).

Other subtypes have been reported in birds (Alfellani et al., 2013), but due to the very low number of samplings these subtypes may be more or less co-incidental/abberant findings. Of note, some samples from birds have been untypable. I have a slight recollection of detecting ST3 in Icelandic rock ptarmigans (in mixed ST infection) collected by Dr Karl Skírnission, but that certainly needs confirmation.

Bird contact/bird droppings - a significant source of Blastocystis in humans? Me feeding some 'Birds of Australia'. Photo by Dr Rebecca J Traub.

ST6 is very rarely seen in humans in Europe. In other parts of the world, for instance in Egypt and some Asian countries, ST6 appears relatively common, but we do not know much about 'bird subtypes' in those particular regions. Also, the situation in the US and Canada is more or less completely unknown (Blastocystis subtyping is something that appears not to attract research groups in North America apart from the one led by Dr Ron Fayer in Beltsville, Maryland).

ST7 is occasionally seen in humans in countries such as Sweden and Denmark. But in my - still limited - experience, individuals infected by these subtypes are not necessarily prone to 'suffer more' from intestinal symptoms than those who do not have these subtypes. While human cases of ST6 (and ST7) may represent cases of zoonotic transmission, it is far to early to draw any conclusions on this. It would be important to compare ST6 and ST7 18S alleles from humans and birds. MLST typing systems for these two subtypes are not yet available, but 18S analysis in itself may prove valuable for molecular epidemiological analyses as in the case of other subtypes (Stensvold et al., 2012).

Walton Ford: "Falling Bough" (Source). You will also see the now extinct Passenger Pigeon in 'Birds of America'.

References:

Ramírez JD, Sánchez LV, Bautista DC, Corredor AF, Flórez AC, & Stensvold CR (2013). Blastocystis subtypes detected in humans and animals from Colombia. Infection, Genetics and Evolution: Journal of Molecular Epidemiology and Evolutionary Genetics in Infectious Diseases PMID: 23886615

Alfellani MA, Taner-Mulla D, Jacob AS, Imeede CA, Yoshikawa H, Stensvold CR, & Clark CG (2013). Genetic diversity of Blastocystis in livestock and zoo animals. Protist, 164 (4), 497-509 PMID: 23770574

Stensvold CR, Alfellani M, & Clark CG (2012). Levels of genetic diversity vary dramatically between Blastocystis subtypes. Infection, Genetics and Evolution: Journal of Molecular Epidemiology and Evolutionary Genetics in Infectious Diseases, 12 (2), 263-73 PMID: 22116021

Stensvold CR, Alfellani MA, Nørskov-Lauritsen S, Prip K, Victory EL, Maddox C, Nielsen HV, & Clark CG (2009). Subtype distribution of Blastocystis isolates from synanthropic and zoo animals and identification of a new subtype. International Journal for Parasitology, 39 (4), 473-9 PMID: 18755193

My 'Thoughts on Blastocystis' now as eBook in Amazon!

I edited and assembled quite a few blog posts and published them as the eBook Thoughts on Blastocystis in Amazon! 

Buying it will set you back only about one pound, and even if you're completely broke, you may be able to borrow it through the Kindle Owners' Lending Library service. How cool is that?!

Anyway, the book summarises a lot of facts, thoughts, hypotheses and new research data on Blastocystis with a personal take here and there and also with parallels to other areas of clinical microbiology, gastroenterology and microbiomology. I hope you'll enjoy it!

Please also note that our review 'Recent Developments in Blastocystis Research' published in Advances in Parasitology Vol. 82 is also available for purchase in Amazon.

Literature:

Clark CG, van der Giezen M, Alfellani MA, & Stensvold CR (2013). Recent developments in Blastocystis research. Advances in Parasitology, 82, 1-32 PMID: 23548084

This Month In Blastocystis Research (JUL 2013)

The open access journal 'Tropical Parasitology' (published by the Indian Academy of Tropical Parasitology) has included a symposium on Blastocystis in their January-June (Vol. 3) issue (available here). The symposium comprises three papers; one is on "taxonomy, biology and virulence", the next is on genetic diversity and molecular methods for diagnosis and epidemiology, and the last one is on treatment controversies. I believe that it may take quite a while before these papers will appear in PubMed.

The first paper written by Drs Parija and Jeremiah sums up a few of the aspects related to (especially historical) taxonomic issues and very little on the actual biology of Blastocystis. Meanwhile, there is quite a substantial section on Blastocystis morphology. Regarding virulence, the authors mention the possibility that differences in virulence may be due to differences in subtypes, but that subtyping alone does not predict pathogenicity which in part may be due to varying levels of intra-subtype genetic variation. The authors also briefly mention some of the morphological and phenotypical observations that have been associated with 'pathogenic Blastocystis', such as the amoeboid stage, large cells, rough surface, slow growth rate, and increased binding to lectins. It is always interesting to speculate on such associations, but it must be kept in mind that results from in-vitro experiments may not necessarily reflect in-vivo situations.

One topic that keeps popping up in the literature - and also in two of the papers here in this symposium - is the possibility of 'amoebic forms' of Blastocystis being associated with symptomatic infection. This hypothesis was introduced in 2006 by Tan and Suresh, I believe; Scanlan (2013) speculated that amoeboid forms might be the nutrient acquiring form potentially selecting for bacterial virulence or certain bacterial communities through grazing; please go here for more thoughts from a previous blog post.

My own experience on Blastocystis morphology mainly stems from looking at cultures, and since we practically only get isolates from patients with gastrointestinal disease, I don't know what Blastocystis cultures from asymptomatic individuals look like. A dear colleague of mine - Marianne Lebbad, a brilliant Swedish parasitologist with many years in business - sent me the picture below (light microscopy of a faecal concentrate) and speculates that Blastocystis might be able to form groups/clusters of cells, maybe even with the ability to form a mono-layer on the surface of the gut mucosa? I've never observed the cluster formation in cultures, but then again, we have no idea of whether the stages seen in in vitro cultures (microaerophilic environment) are identical to the in vivo stages (strictly anaerobic), and exactly how Blastocystis lives and multiplies in the colon... Anyway, the idea of biofilm comes into mind. It would be nice to learn more from colleagues with a similar experience.

Light microscopy of Blastocystis apparently forming a cluster of cells; we wonder whether the cells are in fact 'glued' together and if so, how? Courtesy of Dr Marianne Lebbad.

Moving on to the next paper, this one was written by me and deals mostly with issues and developments within the field of diagnostics, molecular characterisation, and molecular epidemiology. The target audience comprises clinical microbiologists and those involved in Blastocystis epidemiology and genetic diversity research. Included is a table, which is basically a reproduction of the one included in the recent paper by Alfellani et al. (2013) displaying the distribution of subtypes in humans across different geographical regions. I hope that the open access feature of this paper will prompt even more researcher into Blastocystis epidemiology! At least it is currently listed on the site as 'popular'!

The third paper in the string is written by Drs Sekar and Shanthi. These authors put emphasis on the conspicuous lack of data on the metabolic processes of Blastocystis, making it difficult to establish how to best approach antibiotic intervention; we must anticipate that with more genomic and transcriptomic data analyses arriving within a foreseeable future we will soon know much more about this. They also reiterate what has been put forth by many, namely that differences in eradication may boil down to differences in drug susceptibility, which again may be due to a variety of reasons, including genetic diversity, which is extreme in Blastocystis.

According to these authors, 'therapy should be limited to patients with persistent symptoms subsequent to a complete work up for alternative etiologies'; at the present stage this appears sensible, although clinicians would probably appreciate a clearer definition of 'symptoms'!

The review goes through some of the drugs most commonly used for treating Blastocystis, including metronidazole, paromomycin and co-trimoxazole, but also includes a few data on the use of the probiotic Saccharomyces boulardii in attempts to eradicate Blastocystis. There is not very much on the mechanisms of drug action, - it's more like a summary of data coming out from different studies, including the few placebo-controlled ones.
Regarding co-trimoxazole (which is also known as 'Bactrim' or 'Septra') this drug combo is often administered to HIV-patients prophylactically against Pneumocystis. In a study of parasites in Danish HIV patients, only 6/96 patients were given co-trimoxazole (unpublished data); two of these patients had Blastocystis. Hence, one 'alternative' way of finding out about the efficacy of co-trimoxazole on Blatocystis is to test the stools from patients undergoing long-term Pneumocystis prophylaxis comparing these patients to a cohort not receiving Pneumocystis prophylaxis but otherwise similar.

I find it a bit peculiar though to go through a review on treatment data that does not at one single point mention the need for sensitive diagnostics when evaluating courses of treatment and the identification of carriers and non-carriers. Also, there are some passages which are quite difficult for me to follow, for instance p. 36, second column, bottom section.

I hope that this symposium will inspire some of our colleagues and contribute to an increased understanding of Blastocystis.

References:

SYMPOSIUM

Parija SC & Jeremiah SS (2013). Blastocystis: Taxonomy, biology and virulence Tropical Parasitology DOI: 10.4103/2229-5070.113894
 
Stensvold CR (2013). Blastocystis: Genetic diversity and molecular methods for diagnosis and epidemiology Tropical Parasitology DOI: 10.4103/2229-5070.113896  

Sekar U & Shanthi M (2013). Blastocystis: Consensus of treatment and controversies Tropical Parasitology DOI: 10.4103/2229-5070.113901

OTHER:

Scanlan PD (2012). Blastocystis: past pitfalls and future perspectives. Trends in parasitology, 28 (8), 327-34 PMID: 22738855

Stensvold CR, Nielsen SD, Badsberg JH, Engberg J, Friis-Møller N, Nielsen SS, Nielsen HV, & Friis-Møller A (2011). The prevalence and clinical significance of intestinal parasites in HIV-infected patients in Denmark. Scandinavian Journal of Infectious Diseases, 43 (2), 129-35 PMID: 20936912  

Tan TC & Suresh KG (2006). Predominance of amoeboid forms of Blastocystis hominis in isolates from symptomatic patients. Parasitology Research, 98 (3), 189-93 PMID: 16323025

This Month In Blastocystis Research (JUN 2013)

Another paper in the string of publications coming out from the PhD study by Dr Alfellani (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) has just appeared in PubMed.

Dr Alfellani and his colleagues have done a great job in analysing a multitude of samples from humans, non-human primates and animals; I have previously blogged about their observations from studies of human and non-human primates. Moreover, they have surveyed available data in order to better discuss their own findings, and the work has contributed significantly to what today is known about the host specificity, genetic diversity, phylogeography and general molecular epidemiology of Blastocystis.

Alfellani's most recent paper is published in the journal Protist, and it deals with the 'Genetic Diversity of Blastocystis in Livestock and Zoo Animals'.

It is quite a large paper which includes a lot of new information and a comprehensive (and hopefully exhaustive) table summarising Blastocystis subtype data in all relevant hosts (humans, non-human primates, other mammals and birds).

I will highlight a couple of things from the paper:

1. Apart from reporting on virtually complete SSU rDNA sequences from a couple of subtypes for which entire SSU rDNA sequences have yet not been available, we also report on three novel subtypes. Until recently, we only knew about 14 subtypes (ST1-ST14), of which ST1-ST9 can be found in humans. Now, three additional subtypes have been identified; ST15 in artiodactyls (camel and sheep) and non-human primates (chimpanzee and gibbon), ST16 in kangaroos, and ST17 in gundis.

The Gundi (Ctenodactylus gundi) is a rodent living mainly in the deserts of Northern Africa. (Source)

2. Novel data arising from analysis of faecal samples from humans and animals in Sebha, Libya, strongly indicate that humans and animals in this area are infected by different subtypes: Humans appear to carry ST1, ST2, and ST3, while synanthropic animals (artiodactyls in this case) mostly have ST5 and ST10 infections, suggesting that livestock is not a major contributor to human Blastocystis infection.

To this end, there is growing evidence of quite a substantial degree of host specificity of Blastocystis.  Even when subtypes overlap between humans and animals, we have accumulating evidence that the strains found in humans and animals are different. This means that the hypothesis that animals constitute an important reservoir of human Blastocystis infections currently has very limited support. It is my clear impression that when a strain of ST6 or ST8 is detected in humans, this strain has most probably been transmitted from an animal source. But we very rarely see these subtypes in humans, at least in Europeans.

It will be extremely interesting to see how the universe of Blastocystis subtypes unfolds... by genetically characterising strains in humans and non-human hosts, we are building up a clearer picture of transmission patterns and evolutionary biology, including our adaptation to Blastocystis, and the parasite's adaptation to us and other hosts.

It is noteworthy that we are starting to see different subtypes in rodents. We have previously thought that generally, rodents were infected by ST4. But now we know that many rodents are not infected, and we also know that rodents may harbour subtypes other than ST4.

So,17 subtypes of Blastocystis are now known. We have probably only seen the top of the iceberg, since many host species have not yet been sampled from, and it is likely that we will see quite a few STs being identified in the nearest future. To this end it is necessary to have a consensus regarding the identification of novel subtypes. Along with the Protist paper we have uploaded a supplementary file (Appendix A, TXT format) with aligned reference sequences that can be used for phylogenetic analysis,  hoping that it will be useful to our colleagues. In a future blog post I will try to address the issues of identifying new subtypes more specifically.

ST15 is one of the more interesting subtypes since it appears to have quite a low host specificity - infecting both non-human primates and artiodactyls. Yet, we have come across it only now. ST15 and ST17 are remarkable in the way that they appear to be closer related to herptile and arthropod lineages, respectively, than to lineages from mammals.

Please note that virtually complete sequences of ST10, ST13, ST14, ST15, and ST17 analysed in the study have been released in GenBank just now.

Further reading:

Alfellani MA, Taner-Mulla D, Jacob AS, Imeede CA, Yoshikawa H, Stensvold CR, & Clark CG (2013). Genetic Diversity of Blastocystis in Livestock and Zoo Animals. Protist, 164 (4), 497-509 PMID: 23770574

Alfellani MA, Stensvold CR, Vidal-Lapiedra A, Onuoha ES, Fagbenro-Beyioku AF, & Clark CG (2013). Variable geographic distribution of Blastocystis subtypes and its potential implications. Acta Tropica, 126 (1), 11-8 PMID: 23290980

Alfellani MA, Jacob AS, Perea NO, Krecek RC, Taner-Mulla D, Verweij JJ, Levecke B, Tannich E, Clark CG, & Stensvold CR (2013). Diversity and distribution of Blastocystis sp. subtypes in non-human primates. Parasitology, 140 (8), 966-71 PMID: 23561720

Blastocystis - 'Monsters Inside Me'

I woke up this morning, grabbed my smartphone and went on to check my Blastocystis Google Alert. There was one entry, and this was the one:

Now, I could probably do a post with hundreds of examples showing how the internet abounds with material that may misguide/misinform people on Blastocystis pathogenicity. As such, this video is a nice example of how you can diligently manipulate people into thinking that severe, debilitating disease can be caused by Blastocystis.

Now, before I move on, I have to say that if this is a documentary, I'm very sorry for the couple in this video who have suffered the pain and consequences of sudden debilitating illness. Precautions have to be taken when you are exposed to sewage to avoid contracting infections.

The symptoms that are described in the video - including the weight loss - could be attributable to many different bacterial and viral pathogens, even parasites such as Cryptosporidium and maybe also Giardia; to this end, the video provides us with no information on other pathogens found in the patient's stool. Even in the event that Blastocystis was the only potential pathogen found, other pathogens may have been overlooked if sensitive diagnostics were not taken into use.

It is possible that Bill Wilson contracted Blastocystis only after signing on to his plumbing contract, but it is also possible that he had it a long time before. Many of us (up to 30% of the healthy Danish population) are colonised, and colonisation is often chronic.

We are informed that the patient receives a course of metronidazole, a drug that is often used to treat Blastocystis, but which in fact has a limited efficacy in vivo when used alone. Bill apparently clears his symptoms after metronidazole treatment, but we do not know whether in fact Bill also clears his Blastocystis infection, which could be determined by post-treatment stool tests. Metronidazole is capable of clearing a large number of anaerobic bacterial and protozoan species, and it is not unlikely that the drug has eradicated one or more pathogens that Bill could have contracted during his work (or elsewhere), and so symptom relief may be due to clearance of a non-Blastocystis pathogen instead.

Finally, it may be so that symptom disappearance coincides with spontaneous pathogen resolution. Cryptosporidiosis, for instance, can cause quite debilitating disease even in immunocompetent individuals, causing the infected individuals to lose a lot of water due to diarrhoea lasting for days or even weeks, but the disease is usually self-limiting.

So, this video tells a story that makes the audience automatically think that Bill Wilson's disease is due to Blastocystis. Apart from the statement 'Complications from a Blastocystis hominis infection can be fatal' and the explanation of how metronidazole works on Blastocystis, there is not really any statements or information in the video that do not make sense; the video is just put together in a way so that the viewer automatically deduces that Blastocystis is the culprit. A diligent act of manipulation!

Please note that this post is about how information on Blastocystis can be conveyed to an audience and not about the particular case as such.

Reference:

Stensvold CR, Smith HV, Nagel R, Olsen KE, & Traub RJ (2010). Eradication of Blastocystis carriage with antimicrobials: reality or delusion? Journal of clinical gastroenterology, 44 (2), 85-90 PMID: 19834337

This Month in Blastocystis Research (MAY 2013)

Now, we have a situation. Last month, I came up with the idea of the post series 'This Month in Blastocystis Research' developed for discussing a couple of papers on Blastocystis appearing recently in pubmed. However, this month only one Blastocystis release has emerged. It is in Turkish with an English abstract and so I'm not in the optimum position to review it. Overall, I'm not entirely clear on why the authors have chosen to publish the work. The paper is apparently about PCR amplification of Blastocystis specific DNA (using the barcoding primers) with subsequent cloning with a view to producing subtype information that could have been obtained simply by direct sequencing. At least when the goal is to subtype a particular positive sample, PCR + sequencing should suffice. Obviously, if you want to explore intra-subtype diversity, cloning is very useful. But it is time consuming for subtyping and also expensive. Therefore, for plain subtyping, I recommend the protocol that I put out on youtube a few weeks ago. The phylogenetic tree produced by the authors looks unfamiliar to me in that the clustering of the subtypes is quite different from the phylogenies inferred by other groups; this should not have anything to do with the SSU rDNA region explored; rather it may boil down to issues with alignment editing or the algorithm chosen for phylogenetic analysis. Well, we should be looking forward to more subtype data from Turkey! Incidentally, I was once involved in a Turkish study where we found ST1, ST2 and ST3 mainly, while ST4 was rare.

Since there are no other papers to discuss, I will try and compensate by providing a link to 'This Week in Parasitism' hosted by Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier, who are going through a case of Blastocystis possibly contracted abroad during a field trip to Bali. Now, there's a lot of digression in this pod cast (some of which is actually quite enjoyable). Also, I do not agree with all the things said about Blastocystis in this conversation. If you cannot make the link work, you can access the podcast directly here. 

I do think it's a bit strange though that given the clinical focus of the talk, there is not a single word on paromomycin. But I guess the overall take home message is that treating Blastocystis is really difficult, and no single type of therapeutic intervention is consistently efficacious. Unfortunately, the two gentlemen do not touch upon the genetic diversity of Blastocystis, which is probably one of the most interesting things about Blastocystis currently known, and which may also be part of the reason why no single treatment modality seems to work every single time.

I wonder whether Blastocystis will always be stuck in shades of grey... or whether at some point we'll be able to make some clear-cut conclusions that will be useful for clinicians and clinical microbiologists...? I hope! And I believe we are certainly on our way!

Anyway, enjoy a bit of Blastocystis causerie!

Suggested reading:

Sakalar C, Uyar Y, Yürürdurmaz MA, Tokar S, Yeşilkaya H, Gürbüz E, Kuk S, & Yazar S (2013). [Cloning of Blastocystis sp Subtype 3 Small-subunit Ribosomal DNA]. Turkiye Parazitolojii Dergisi / Turkiye Parazitoloji Dernegi = Acta Parasitologica Turcica / Turkish Society for Parasitology, 37 (1), 13-8 PMID: 23619039

Ozyurt M, Kurt O, Mølbak K, Nielsen HV, Haznedaroglu T, & Stensvold CR (2008). Molecular epidemiology of Blastocystis infections in Turkey. Parasitology International, 57 (3), 300-6 PMID: 18337161

Nature Editorial (2013). Shades of grey Nature, 497 (7450), 410-410 DOI: 10.1038/497410a

YouTube Video on Blastocystis Subtyping

For those who want to venture into Blastocystis subtyping - the easy way - I've recorded and uploaded a video on YouTube fyi.




For even more information, please visit a selection of relevant blog posts here.

Transcriptomic Analysis of Blastocystis ST1!

BLASTing Breaking News!

Probably to support their genomic data, researchers in Andrew Roger's group in Canada have performed transcriptomic analysis of the Nand II strain, which belongs to Blastocystis sp. ST1.

Running from April 29 to May 2 is the SMBE (Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution) satellite meeting on Eukaryotic-Omics; the abstract booklet can be downloaded here. And fellow tweeps, don't let yourselves down by not following #SMBEeuks!

Watching #SMBEeuks tweets ticking in from @druvus @dr_bik and @ctitusbrown feels like attending the actual conference - without the jet lag!
— Chr. Rune Stensvold (@Eukaryotes) April 29, 2013

Until now, we've only known of one complete Blastocystis nuclear genome, namely that of ST7. Now, the release of the ST1 genome may be imminent! In any case, Roger's group have used their transcriptomic data to compare the protein content in ST1 with that in ST7, and it appears from their conference abstract that "the genes encoded by the Nand II strain (ST1) are surprisingly distantly related to ST7 orthologues, sharing on average ~50% identity at the protein level." And more: "Preliminary analyses allowed us to detect ~1000 genes in ST1 that have no homologue in Blastocystis sp. ST7". This means that the extreme genetic diversity that we see across the SSU ribosomal RNA genes is reflected and may be even more pronounced at nuclear genome level.

The group also studied genes acquired by lateral gene transfer (LGT; see previous post for more on LGT, also known as horizontal gene transfer), and what they basically found was that ST1 appears to have acquired bacterial genes related mainly to metabolism, while genes acquired from eukaryotes code for proteins related to cellular processes and signaling mechanisms.

Finally, they have discovered genes obtained by LGT that has had importance for Blastocystis' adaptation to parasitism; among these genes that enable resistance to host immune responses.

Roger's group is based at the Dept. of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Dalhouise University, Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada.

'Invasive Blastocystis' in ECCMID 2013

ECCMID - the annual European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (hosted by ESCMID) is currently taking place in Berlin. This year, I'm not attending, but I've been scanning the abstract book for 'Blastocystis', and it appears that an oral presentation was scheduled for yesterday in the "Emerging Infectious Diseases" section:

First of all: it's great to see fellow researchers screening larger (i.e. hundreds) of faecal DNAs by PCR for Blastocystis. I wish more people would do that to produce reliable data on prevalence and subtypes.

Now, as I've already mentioned, there are currently mainly two methods in use for subtyping, barcoding and STS PCR, and recently I evaluated these. To cut a long story short, barcoding is recommended for subtyping, since the STS method, which was used in the study by Tarasova et al. (abstract), appears to miss the majority of ST4 strains (the major genotype), and moreover, no STS primers exist for ST8 and ST9 (or any of the other 8 subtypes identified to date, but which have only been found in animals). So, the subtype data found in this study should be interpreted with this in mind.

Importantly however, I'm not sure whether the authors used the original Yoshikawa STS terminology or the terminology acknowledged in our 2007 consensus.

First, let us assume that consensus terminology is used. Then it's surprising to find ST5 in human samples in the first place, and finding a ST5 prevalence of 45% in a cohort of humans included in a larger study like this is very unlikely based on current evidence of more than 3,000 observations from all over the world, where the overall prevalence of ST5 in humans is <1%. Also, finding so much ST6 is also really striking. Also, if the consensus terminology is used, then I'm a bit puzzled why the authors put emphasis on ST7 not being found, since ST7 is relatively rare in humans.

And so let us assume that consensus terminology was not used, and the original Yoshikawa terminology was used instead. This would translate into STs 4, 6, and 7 not being detected in the CVH group. Which makes sense, since ST6 is extremely rare (at least in Europe), ST7 is only seen on occasion, and, as I said, the majority of ST4 infections are likely to go undetected by the STS method. However, ST4 appears quite common in Europe, and I suspect that it should be quite common in St Petersburg as well. But then there is one thing that comes to my mind: If ST4 infections are common, then there should be a relatively large number of samples detected by PCR which were untypable by PCR...and there is no information on untypable positive samples in the abstract...
But what is more:  STS subtype 5 translates into ST2 in consensus terminology, and similarly STS subtype 6 equals ST5 (yes, it may seem confusing, but we have provided a table in the 2007 consensus paper to make this easy). This means that no matter which of the two terminologies were used, ST5 is seen in abundance in patients with CVH in St Petersburg! Which is a very remarkable observation, and maybe more interesting than the rest of the data, which  I, by the way, find a bit difficult to follow (I expected to learn something about Blastocystis invasion, when I read the title of the abstract, but there is no data or information on invasiveness... and I'm very curious as to how the authors managed to obtain such a high number of samples from 'healthy people'! To evaluate the prevalence of Blastocystis in the control group, demographic data are needed, and a prevalence as low as 5.3% among healthy individuals makes me suspect that this control group consisted of newborns/toddlers who generally have a low prevalence of Blastocystis). Also, since when was ST1 'zoonotic'?

Anyway, often conference abstract are previews of upcoming articles, and so I expect that there will be a paper out soon from this group, and hopefully these issues will be clarified. The occasional confusion in Blastocystis epidemiology could be reduced to a minimum if everyone got into using barcoding and the Blastocystis 18S subtyping site (and go here for a video introduction to Blastocystis subtyping).

Are some citizens of St Petersburg infected by Blastocystis sp. ST5, a subtype seen primarily in livestock and African apes? Source

References:

Tarasova E, Suvorova M, Sigidaev A, Suvorov A. Blastocystis invasion in patients with chronic viral hepatitis in Saint Petersburg. ECCMID 2013 abstract O338.

Alfellani MA, Stensvold CR, Vidal-Lapiedra A, Onuoha ES, Fagbenro-Beyioku AF, & Clark CG (2013). Variable geographic distribution of Blastocystis subtypes and its potential implications. Acta Tropica, 126 (1), 11-8 PMID: 23290980

Stensvold CR (2013). Comparison of sequencing (barcode region) and sequence-tagged-site PCR for Blastocystis subtyping. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 51 (1), 190-4 PMID: 23115257

Stensvold CR, Suresh GK, Tan KS, Thompson RC, Traub RJ, Viscogliosi E, Yoshikawa H, & Clark CG (2007). Terminology for Blastocystis subtypes--a consensus. Trends in Parasitology, 23 (3), 93-6 PMID: 17241816

This Month in Blastocystis Research (APR 2013)

I've been extremely bored all day writing up my evaluation of a (not so interesting) PhD thesis, and I thought I'd spice up my day by introducing a new series of posts on this blog inspired by so many other blogs, namely: This Month in Blastocystis Research! A place for me to go through some of the most recent papers on Blastocystis.

There is paper out by Gould and Boorom who look at the stability of Blastocystis surface antigen over time. They show that detection of Blastocystis by an immunofluorescense assay (IFA) is not hampered after1 year of storage of faecal material in formalin compared to results immediately after the sampling point. Detection of Blastocystis by IFA is something that is not often used (that's my impression, anyway), but makes sense in cases where laboratory analyses can be performed only weeks-months after sample collection (e.g. during field work), in which case samples need to be preserved. We usually, however, recommend storing faecal material in (70%) ethanol (in the relationship 1 part faecal sample to 4 parts of ethanol), where the sample is mixed with the ethanol initially by vortexing the tube (typically a 2 mL Eppendorf tube) for 5-10 min, and subsequently keeping the tubes away from light until further processing. Importantly, in contrast to formalin-fixed stool, ethanol-fixed stool can be made highly suitable for PCR by just washing the samples x3 in PBS prior to DNA extraction. An example of this methodology can be seen in our study of Blastocystis in members of the Tapirapé tribe in Mato Grosso, Brazil (go here for a free download).

I'd wish that Gould and Boorom had validated their findings by running a PCR on the samples too (specificity and sensitivity testing). The IFA assay was also used in a publication from 2010 by Dogruman-Al et al., who found a diagnostic sensitivity of the IFA assay of 86.7% compared to culture; also here, adding PCR would have been relevant to better determine the diagnostic qualities of the IFA assay.

I was lucky to be involved in field work in the Lao PDR in 2003 conducted by regional WHO authorities; preserving and analysing faecal samples for parasites by microscopy (Kato Katz) and - later - PCR was what we did!

Adding to the endless row of cross-sectional prevalence papers, there is an article out just now by Abdulsalam et al. (2013) on Prevalence, predictors and clinical significance of Blastocystis sp. in Sebha, Libya (free for download here). The study used culture (Jones' medium) as diagnostic modality and confirmed the existence of frequent asymptomatic carriage. The authors used questionnaire info and multivariate statistical analysis to identify risk factors for Blastocystis carriage among 380 individuals aged 1-75, and what I find really interesting is that they found that participants aged > 18 years were much more prone to having Blastocystis than participants < 18 years (P < 0.001). This is something that we see in Denmark too, and I'm currently trying to collect "sufficient proof"! Whether this is an age accumulation effect due to the chronicity of colonisation remains to be investigated. The authors also found that carriers were more likely to experience symptoms than those who were not carriers (P < 0.001), mainly abdominal pain (P < 0.001), but notably not diarrhoea (P = 0.117).
It's a pity that molecular data was not included the study from Libya. Incidentally, our group recently published subtype data from Sebha, Libya, and it appears that Blastocystis found in humans in Libya mainly belongs to ST1, whereas ST3 is often the most common subtype in most other countries, and what is more: ST4 appears virtually absent in Libya and the rest of Africa... But let's see: The investigators might have more data up their sleeve waiting to be published...

May I also again draw your attention to our recent paper on Blastocystis in non-human primates, in which we find that despite the fact that there is a great overlap of subtypes in human and non-human primates, it appears that ST1 and ST3 strains found in non-human primates differ genetically from those found in humans, indicating cryptic host specificity. We have additional data supporting the theory that Blastocystis in humans is a result of human-to-human transmission (anthroponotic) rather than animal-to-human (zoonotic) transmission. Which is really interesting, since the theory of zoonotic transmission of Blastocystis has been heavily (I dare not say purported, so I'll say) propagated. Having said that, I think we still need to look much deeper into barcoding of Blastocystis from pets and other synanthropic animals before we can make more poignant conclusions.

And, finally, yet another add for our recent review on Recent Development in Blastocystis Research!

Please note that I'm happy to take suggestions for future posts, and I'd also like to encourage guest blogging!

Suggested reading:

Abdulsalam AM, Ithoi I, Al-Mekhlafi HM, Khan AH, Ahmed A, Surin J, & Mak JW (2013). Prevalence, predictors and clinical significance of Blastocystis sp. in Sebha, Libya. Parasites & Vectors, 6 PMID: 23566585

Alfellani MA, Jacob AS, Perea NO, Krecek RC, Taner-Mulla D, Verweij JJ, Levecke B, Tannich E, Clark CG, & Stensvold CR (2013). Diversity and distribution of Blastocystis sp. subtypes in non-human primates. Parasitology, 1-6 PMID: 23561720

Alfellani MA, Stensvold CR, Vidal-Lapiedra A, Onuoha ES, Fagbenro-Beyioku AF, & Clark CG (2013). Variable geographic distribution of Blastocystis subtypes and its potential implications. Acta Tropica, 126 (1), 11-8 PMID: 23290980

Clark CG, van der Giezen M, Alfellani MA, & Stensvold CR (2013). Recent developments in Blastocystis research. Advances in Parasitology, 82, 1-32 PMID: 23548084

Dogruman-Al F, Simsek Z, Boorom K, Ekici E, Sahin M, Tuncer C, Kustimur S, & Altinbas A (2010). Comparison of methods for detection of Blastocystis infection in routinely submitted stool samples, and also in IBS/IBD Patients in Ankara, Turkey. PloS One, 5 (11) PMID: 21124983 

Gould R, & Boorom K (2013). Blastocystis surface antigen is stable in chemically preserved stool samples for at least 1 year. Parasitology research PMID: 23609598

Malheiros AF, Stensvold CR, Clark CG, Braga GB, & Shaw JJ (2011). Short report: Molecular characterization of Blastocystis obtained from members of the indigenous Tapirapé ethnic group from the Brazilian Amazon region, Brazil. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 85 (6), 1050-3 PMID: 22144442