Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Carcinogenic Parasite Secretes Growth Factor That Accelerates Wound Healing And Potentially Promotes Neoplasia., Michael J. Smout, Javier Sotillo, Thewarach Laha, Atiroch Papatpremsiri, Gabriel Rinaldi, Rafael N. Pimenta, Paul J. Brindley, +11 More

Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine Faculty Publications

Infection with the human liver fluke Opisthorchis viverrini induces cancer of the bile ducts, cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). Injury from feeding activities of this parasite within the human biliary tree causes extensive lesions, wounds that undergo protracted cycles of healing, and re-injury over years of chronic infection. We show that O. viverrini secreted proteins accelerated wound resolution in human cholangiocytes, an outcome that was compromised following silencing of expression of the fluke-derived gene encoding the granulin-like growth factor, Ov-GRN-1. Recombinant Ov-GRN-1 induced angiogenesis and accelerated mouse wound healing. Ov-GRN-1 was internalized by human cholangiocytes and induced gene and protein expression changes associated …