Efficacy of coconut oil as therapeutic agent with potential anticancer activity in immunosuppressed mice with cryptosporidiosis: Parasitological, histopathological and immunohistochemical studies | ||||
| Parasitologists United Journal | ||||
| Article 5, Volume 15, Issue 1, April 2022, Page 45-52 PDF (845.77 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/PUJ.2022.95720.1133 | ||||
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| Authors | ||||
Hagar Abdelmaksoud 1; Tarek Aboushousha 2; Ayman El-Ashkar* 3
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| 1Departments of Medical Parasitology, Theodor Bilharz Research Institute, Giza | ||||
| 2Departments of Pathology , Theodor Bilharz Research,Institute, Giza | ||||
| 3Departments of Medical Parasitology , Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo , Egypt and Basic Medical Science, College of Medicine, University of Bisha , Bisha, KSA | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| Background: Cryptosporidiosis is an important worldwide opportunistic infection. It causes severe lifethreatening diarrhea in immunocompromised patients and has a carcinogenic predisposition in chronic cases. Until now, there are no available drugs that can control this serious effect on the ileocecal region. Coconut oil (CO) is rich in many saturated fatty acids like lauric acid (LA) which has many uses in the field of traditional medicine, and also showed anticancer activity although its mechanism of action is not well studied. Objective: To assess the efficacy of CO in immunosuppressed mice with chronic cryptosporidiosis. Material and Methods: Forty white Albino mice of CDI strain were immunosuppressed and divided into 4 groups. GI: non-infected (negative control); GII: infected for 60 d, and non-treated (positive control); GIII: infected for 60 d then Nitazoxanide (NTZ) treated; GIV: infected for 60 d then CO treated. Parasitological, histopathological, and immunohistochemical (IHC) studies were conducted at the ileocecal region to estimate the parasite burden, caspase-3 mediator of apoptosis, and CDX2 biomarker of tumorigenesis. Results: Parasitological examination showed marked reduction of parasite load in GIV compared to GII, and GIII. Histopathological examination showed focal villous tip erosions and mild villous core infiltration by mononuclear inflammatory cells in GIII, while GIV showed a mostly preserved villous pattern with mild villous core inflammation. Immunohistochemical examination showed the best results in GIV in which there was significant positive nuclear staining in acini for CDX2 with nearly negative cytoplasmic staining in acini for caspase-3. Conclusion: Coconut oil is a natural product with significant anti-Cryptosporidium effects and a promising ability to decrease the incidence of dysplastic changes in chronic cryptosporidiosis. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| anticancer activity; coconut oil; cryptosporidiosis; in vivo, nitazoxanide | ||||
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