Factors Affecting the Anthelmintic Efficacy of Papaya Latex in Vivo: Host Sex and Intensity of Infection

The development of plant-derived cysteine proteinases, such as those in papaya latex, as novel anthelmintics requires that the variables affecting efficacy be fully evaluated. Here, we conducted two experiments, the first to test for any effect of host sex and the second to determine whether the intensity of the worm burden carried by mice would influence efficacy. In both experiments, we used the standard C3H mouse reference strain in which papaya latex supernatant (PLS) consistently shows >80 % reduction in Heligmosomoides bakeri worm burdens, but to broaden the perspective, we also included for comparison mice of other strains that are known to respond more poorly to treatment with papaya latex. Our results confirmed that there is a strong genetic influence affecting efficacy of PLS in removing adult worm burdens. However, there was no effect of host sex on efficacy (C3H and NIH) and no effect of infection intensity (C3H and BALB/c). These results offer optimism that plant-derived cysteine proteinases (CPs), such as these from papaya latex, can function as effective anthelmintics, with neither host sex nor infection intensity presenting further hurdles to impede their development for future medicinal and veterinary usage.