Abstract
Angiostrongylus cantonensis, or the rat lungworm, is the causative agent of human angiostrongyliasis associated with eosinophilic meningitis or meningoencephalitis. Additionally, this nematode can cause ocular angiostrongyliasis, though this is rare. The worm can cause permanent damage to the affected eye and sometimes even blindness. Genetic characterization of the worm from clinical samples is limited. In the present study, we investigated the genetics of A. cantonensis recovered from a patient’s eye in Thailand. We sequenced two mitochondrial genes (cytochrome c oxidase subunit I, or COI, and cytochrome b, or cytb) and nuclear gene regions (66-kDa protein and internal transcribed spacer 2, or ITS2) from a fifth-stage larva of Angiostrongylus sample that was surgically removed from the human eye. All sequences of the selected nucleotide regions were highly similar (98–100%) to the sequences of A. cantonensis in the GenBank database. The maximum likelihood and neighbor-joining trees of the COI gene indicated that A. cantonensis was closely related to the AC4 haplotype, whereas the cytb and 66-kDa protein genes were closely clustered with the AC6 and Ac66-1 haplotypes, respectively. In addition, the phylogeny of the concatenated nucleotide datasets of the COI and cytb revealed that the worm was closely related to the Thai strain and strains from other countries. This study confirms the identification and genetic variation of the fifth-stage larvae of A. cantonensis recovered from a patient’s eye in Thailand. Our findings are important for future research on the genetic variation of A. cantonensis that causes human angiostrongyliasis.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Dr. Jatuporn Ngoenkam for communicating in the transportation of the worms.
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Abdulhakam Dumidae performed the experiments, analyzed the data, and wrote the paper. Kanin Luangsawang provided the specimen and wrote the paper. Aunchalee Thanwisai provided the materials, and wrote the paper. Apichat Vitta performed the experiment, analyzed the data, provided the materials, and wrote the paper.
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Informed consent was obtained from the patient for the publication of the photographs and details of the case. The Naresuan University Institutional Review Board approved the protocol for human subjects (COE No. 016/2023).
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436_2023_7922_MOESM1_ESM.docx
Supplementary file1 Table S1 Comparison of nucleotide sequences variation within the COI gene in the 16 haplotypes. Bold letters indicated the sample in the present study. (DOCX 73 KB)
436_2023_7922_MOESM2_ESM.docx
Supplementary file2 Table S2 Comparison of nucleotide sequences variation within the cytb gene in the 20 haplotypes. Bold letters indicated the sample in the present study. (DOCX 93 KB)
436_2023_7922_MOESM3_ESM.docx
Supplementary file3 Table S3 Comparison of nucleotide sequences variation within the 66-kDa protein gene in the 14 haplotypes. Bold letters indicated the sample in the present study (DOCX 37 KB)
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Dumidae, A., Luangsawang, K., Thanwisai, A. et al. Identification and genetic characterization of Angiostrongylus cantonensis isolated from the human eye. Parasitol Res 122, 2217–2225 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-023-07922-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-023-07922-3