Beschreibung:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Alveolar echinococcosis (AE) is a zoonotic disease that is deadly if
left untreated. AE is caused by the larval metacestode stage of the cestode
<jats:italic>Echinococcus multilocularis</jats:italic>. Better knowledge
on the host-parasite interface could yield novel targets for improvement of the
treatment against AE. We analyzed culture media incubated with <jats:italic>in vitro</jats:italic> grown <jats:italic>E.
multilocularis</jats:italic> metacestodes by <jats:sup>1</jats:sup>H nuclear
magnetic resonance spectroscopy to identify the unknown metabolic footprint of the
parasite. Moreover, we quantitatively analyzed all amino acids, acetate, glucose,
lactate, and succinate in time-course experiments using liquid chromatography and
enzymatic assays. The <jats:italic>E. multilocularis</jats:italic>
metacestodes consumed glucose and, surprisingly, threonine and produced succinate,
acetate, and alanine as major fermentation products. The metabolic composition of
vesicle fluid (VF) from <jats:italic>in vitro</jats:italic> grown <jats:italic>E. multilocularis</jats:italic> metacestodes was different from
parasite-incubated culture medium with respect to the abundance, but not the
spectrum, of metabolites, and some metabolites, in particular amino acids,
accumulated in the VF. Overall, this study presents the first characterization of
the <jats:italic>in vitro</jats:italic> metabolic footprint of <jats:italic>E. multilocularis</jats:italic> metacestodes and VF composition, and
it provides the basis for analyses of potentially targetable pathways for future
drug development.</jats:p>