DOCSLIB.ORG

The Host Immune Response to Scedosporium/Lomentospora

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Host Immune Response to Scedosporium/Lomentospora Journal of Fungi Review The Host Immune Response to Scedosporium/Lomentospora Idoia Buldain, Leire Martin-Souto , Aitziber Antoran, Maialen Areitio , Leire Aparicio-Fernandez , Aitor Rementeria * , Fernando L. Hernando and Andoni Ramirez-Garcia * Fungal and Bacterial Biomics Research Group, Department of Immunology, Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Barrio Sarriena s/n, 48940 Leioa, Spain; [email protected] (I.B.); [email protected] (L.M.-S.); [email protected] (A.A.); [email protected] (M.A.); [email protected] (L.A.-F.); fl[email protected] (F.L.H.) * Correspondence: [email protected] (A.R.); [email protected] (A.R.-G.) Abstract: Infections caused by the opportunistic pathogens Scedosporium/Lomentospora are on the rise. This causes problems in the clinic due to the difficulty in diagnosing and treating them. This review collates information published on immune response against these fungi, since an understanding of the mechanisms involved is of great interest in developing more effective strategies against them. Sce- dosporium/Lomentospora cell wall components, including peptidorhamnomannans (PRMs), α-glucans and glucosylceramides, are important immune response activators following their recognition by TLR2, TLR4 and Dectin-1 and through receptors that are yet unknown. After recognition, cytokine synthesis and antifungal activity of different phagocytes and epithelial cells is species-specific, high- lighting the poor response by microglial cells against L. prolificans. Moreover, a great number of Scedosporium/Lomentospora antigens have been identified, most notably catalase, PRM and Hsp70 for their potential medical applicability. Against host immune response, these fungi contain evasion mechanisms, inducing host non-protective response, masking fungal molecular patterns, destructing host defense proteins and decreasing oxidative killing. In conclusion, although many advances have been made, many aspects remain to be elucidated and more research is necessary to shed light on the Citation: Buldain, I.; Martin-Souto, L.; immune response to Scedosporium/Lomentospora. Antoran, A.; Areitio, M.; Aparicio- Fernandez, L.; Rementeria, A.; Hernando, F.L.; Ramirez-Garcia, A. Keywords: Scedosporium; Lomentospora; immune response; cytokine; macrophage; lymphocyte; The Host Immune Response to monocyte; antigen; epithelium Scedosporium/Lomentospora. J. Fungi 2021, 7, 75. https://doi.org/10.3390/ jof7020075 1. Introduction Received: 22 December 2020 Among microbial pathogens, fungi have historically been treated as a minor threat to Accepted: 19 January 2021 human health compared to other infectious agents such as viruses or bacteria, because they Published: 22 January 2021 affected a lower percentage of patients and antifungal treatments were effective for most of them. In recent decades, however, the outlook has been changing radically, as fungal Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral infections increase in frequency as a result of a substantial increase in immunosuppressive with regard to jurisdictional claims in infections, such as those generated by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), as well as published maps and institutional affil- in the use of more potent immunosuppressive drugs and in invasive medical interventions. iations. Moreover, resistance to drugs has become more and more common, which may be due to several reasons, including the use of environmental fungicides as reported in Aspergillus resistance to azole [1]. Even amongst pathogenic fungi, there has been a discriminatory behavior in favor Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. of genera such as Candida, Cryptococcus or Aspergillus, because of the higher incidence of Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. infections they cause compared to other fungi [2–5]. However, rare mycoses, especially This article is an open access article those caused by filamentous fungi, are on the rise [5], probably as a result of the use of distributed under the terms and antifungal prophylaxis in all patients at risk of opportunistic fungal infection. This routine conditions of the Creative Commons has proven effectivity in preventing the most frequent molds [6] but may be contributing Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// to the emergence of less common mold infections such as those caused by the Lomentospora creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). and Scedosporium species, which are highly resistant to current antifungal drugs [7,8]. J. Fungi 2021, 7, 75. https://doi.org/10.3390/jof7020075 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/jof J. Fungi 2021, 7, 75 2 of 20 The species of the genera Scedosporium has been reclassified in recent years. The genus currently includes 10 species [9–11] formerly classified within the Pseudallescheria/Scedosporium complex; the dual name was replaced by the genus Scedosporium following the “Amsterdam Declaration on Fungal Nomenclature”, which recommends a single-name system for all fungi [12]. Some years later, the species Scedosporium prolificans was separated and redefined as Lomentospora prolificans [13]. The Scedosporium/Lomentospora species are saprophytes usually found in soil, es- pecially from human-disturbed ecosystems [14], but can also behave as opportunistic pathogens. They are considered as emerging fungal pathogens due to the increasing fre- quency of infections associated with high mortality rates. These infections appear mainly as a consequence of direct inoculation, respiration, and aspiration of polluted water during near-drowning events, with a remarkable prevalence after tsunami catastrophes [9,11,15,16]. In any case, once the infection has disseminated, systemic infections lead to a worse sce- nario. They also show neurotropism, meaning that central nervous system (CNS) infections are a probable consequence [9,17]. Specifically, they can cause a wide variety of diseases from localized infections in immunocompetent individuals to disseminated infections in those that are immunocom- promised [14]. Within the immunocompromised group, transplant recipients and patients with primary hematological malignancies are among those at highest risk of suffering from these mycoses [9,11,15,18,19]. In the case of immunocompetent individuals, those who suffer from cystic fibrosis (CF) are susceptible to chronic airway colonization. In these patients, Scedosporium/Lomentospora species show a prevalence ranging between 0–25%, ranking second among filamentous fungi, after Aspergillus fumigatus [9,11,15,20–24]. This colonization is considered a risk factor for the development of an infection [24] and contributes to chronic inflammation, which can lead to the progressive deterioration of the lung function, as demonstrated for A. fumigatus [24–26]. Diagnosis is still based on culture-dependent methods and serological tests are only performed on a “home-made” basis, [27,28], but are not commercially available. This makes it impossible to differentiate between an airway colonization and a respiratory infection. Treatment is difficult, as these fungi show very limited susceptibility to current antifungals. European guidelines currently recommend voriconazole as a first-line treatment, together with surgical debridement when possible. In some cases, combinations of antifungals are needed, of which the most studied are voriconazole and terbinafine [9,29–32]. However, combination therapy is only supported by some reports and is therefore only moderately recommended. Considering the rise in cases of Scedosporium/Lomentospora and the problematic nature of their diagnosis and treatment, scientific advances are needed. In this regard, an under- standing of all the immune mechanisms involved in a successful response against these pathogens is of paramount importance. This review therefore compiles the information published over recent years to explain this clearly and to make comparisons with other filamentous fungi. 2. Pathogen Recognition As in most microorganisms, activation of an innate immune response to fungal in- fections is induced by the recognition of molecular components shared by many fungal species, found mainly on the cell wall, known as Pathogen Associated Molecular Patterns (PAMPs). To achieve this, the cells in the immune system use Pattern Recognition Receptors (PRRs) which recognize microbial molecules and activate signaling pathways that gener- ate induction of the synthesis of pro-inflammatory cytokines, phagocytosis and adaptive immunity [33,34], as described below. The PRRs most implicated in the recognition of fungal pathogens are usually Toll-like receptors (TLRs), C-type Lectin Receptors (CLRs), Dectin-1 and 2, and Mannose Receptor/CD206 (MR) [33]. Specifically, the recognition of Scedosporium/Lomentospora has not yet been described in depth, but some of these PRRs J. Fungi 2021, 7, x FOR PEER REVIEW 3 of 21 J. Fungi 2021, 7, 75 3 of 20 nition of Scedosporium/Lomentospora has not yet been described in depth, but some of havethese been PRRs indicated have been as beingindicated of paramount as being of importance paramount (Figures importance1 and (Figures2, with references 1 and 2, with in Supplementaryreferences in Supplementary Materials Figures Material S1 ands Figures S2, respectively). S1 and S2, respectively). FigureFigure 1.1. ScedosporiumScedosporium//Lomentospora cell wallwall componentscomponents inducedinduced macrophagemacrophage activationactivation andand PatternPattern Recognition Recognition Receptors Receptors (PRR) (PRR) involved involved in these
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Isolation and Expression of a Malassezia Globosa Lipase Gene, LIP1 Yvonne M
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Elsevier - Publisher Connector ORIGINAL ARTICLE Isolation and Expression of a Malassezia globosa Lipase Gene, LIP1 Yvonne M. DeAngelis1, Charles W. Saunders1, Kevin R. Johnstone1, Nancy L. Reeder1, Christal G. Coleman2, Joseph R. Kaczvinsky Jr1, Celeste Gale1, Richard Walter1, Marlene Mekel1, Martin P. Lacey1, Thomas W. Keough1, Angela Fieno1, Raymond A. Grant1, Bill Begley1, Yiping Sun1, Gary Fuentes1, R. Scott Youngquist1, Jun Xu1 and Thomas L. Dawson Jr1 Dandruff and seborrheic dermatitis (D/SD) are common hyperproliferative scalp disorders with a similar etiology. Both result, in part, from metabolic activity of Malassezia globosa and Malassezia restricta, commensal basidiomycete yeasts commonly found on human scalps. Current hypotheses about the mechanism of D/SD include Malassezia-induced fatty acid metabolism, particularly lipase-mediated breakdown of sebaceous lipids and release of irritating free fatty acids. We report that lipase activity was detected in four species of Malassezia, including M. globosa. We isolated lipase activity by washing M. globosa cells. The isolated lipase was active against diolein, but not triolein. In contrast, intact cells showed lipase activity against both substrates, suggesting the presence of at least another lipase. The diglyceride-hydrolyzing lipase was purified from the extract, and much of its sequence was determined by peptide sequencing. The corresponding lipase gene (LIP1) was cloned and sequenced. Confirmation that LIP1 encoded a functional lipase was obtained using a covalent lipase inhibitor. LIP1 was differentially expressed in vitro. Expression was detected on three out of five human scalps, as indicated by reverse transcription-PCR.
    [Show full text]
  • Central Nervous System Infections by Members of the Pseudallescheria
    Review article Central nervous system infections by members of the Pseudallescheria boydii species complex in healthy and immunocompromised hosts: epidemiology, clinical characteristics and outcome A. Serda Kantarcioglu,1 Josep Guarro2 and G. S. de Hoog3 1Department of Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey, 2Unitat de Microbiologia, Facultat de Medicina i Ciencies de la Salut, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Reus, Spain and 3Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures, Utrecht, and Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Summary Infections caused by members of the Pseudallescheria boydii species complex are currently among the most common mould infections. These fungi show a particular tropism for the central nervous system (CNS). We reviewed all the available reports on CNS infections, focusing on the geographical distribution, infection routes, immunity status of infected individuals, type and location of infections, clinical manifestations, treatment and outcome. A total of 99 case reports were identified, with similar percentage of healthy and immunocompromised patients (44% vs. 56%; P = 0.26). Main clinical types were brain abscess (69%), co-infection of brain tissue and ⁄ or spinal cord with meninges (10%) and meningitis (9%). The mortality rate was 74%, regardless of the patientÕs immune status, or the infection type and ⁄ or location. Cerebrospinal fluid culture was revealed as a not very important tool as the percentage of positive samples for P. boydii complex was not different from that of negative ones (67% vs. 33%; P = 0.10). In immunocompetent patients, CNS infection was preceded by near drowning or trauma. In these patients, the infection was characterised by localised involvement and a high fatality rate (76%).
    [Show full text]
  • Cryptococcus Neoformans</Em>
    Clemson University TigerPrints All Dissertations Dissertations December 2019 Role of Cryptococcus neoformans Pyruvate Decarboxylase and Aldehyde Dehydrogenase Enzymes in Acetate Production and Virulence Mufida Ahmed Nagi Ammar Clemson University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_dissertations Recommended Citation Ammar, Mufida Ahmed Nagi, "Role of Cryptococcus neoformans Pyruvate Decarboxylase and Aldehyde Dehydrogenase Enzymes in Acetate Production and Virulence" (2019). All Dissertations. 2488. https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_dissertations/2488 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations at TigerPrints. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TigerPrints. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Role of Cryptococcus neoformans Pyruvate Decarboxylase and Aldehyde Dehydrogenase Enzymes in Acetate Production and Virulence A Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of Clemson University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Biochemistry and Molecular Biology by Mufida Ahmed Nagi Ammar December 2019 Accepted by: Dr. Kerry Smith, Committee Chair Dr. Julia Frugoli Dr. Cheryl Ingram-Smith Dr. Lukasz Kozubowski ABSTRACT The basidiomycete Cryptococcus neoformans is is an invasive opportunistic pathogen of the central nervous system and the most frequent cause of fungal meningitis. C. neoformans enters the host by inhalation and protects itself from immune assault in the lungs by producing hydrolytic enzymes, immunosuppressants, and other virulence factors. C. neoformans also adapts to the environment inside the host, including producing metabolites that may confer survival advantages. One of these, acetate, can be kept in reserve as a carbon source or can be used to weaken the immune response by lowering local pH or as a key part of immunomodulatory molecules.
    [Show full text]
  • Turning on Virulence: Mechanisms That Underpin the Morphologic Transition and Pathogenicity of Blastomyces
    Virulence ISSN: 2150-5594 (Print) 2150-5608 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/kvir20 Turning on Virulence: Mechanisms that underpin the Morphologic Transition and Pathogenicity of Blastomyces Joseph A. McBride, Gregory M. Gauthier & Bruce S. Klein To cite this article: Joseph A. McBride, Gregory M. Gauthier & Bruce S. Klein (2018): Turning on Virulence: Mechanisms that underpin the Morphologic Transition and Pathogenicity of Blastomyces, Virulence, DOI: 10.1080/21505594.2018.1449506 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/21505594.2018.1449506 © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group© Joseph A. McBride, Gregory M. Gauthier and Bruce S. Klein Accepted author version posted online: 13 Mar 2018. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 15 View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=kvir20 Publisher: Taylor & Francis Journal: Virulence DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/21505594.2018.1449506 Turning on Virulence: Mechanisms that underpin the Morphologic Transition and Pathogenicity of Blastomyces Joseph A. McBride, MDa,b,d, Gregory M. Gauthier, MDa,d, and Bruce S. Klein, MDa,b,c a Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, 600 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53792, USA; b Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Pediatrics, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, 1675 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53792, USA; c Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, 1550 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
    [Show full text]
  • Fungal Infection in the Lung
    CHAPTER Fungal Infection in the Lung 52 Udas Chandra Ghosh, Kaushik Hazra INTRODUCTION The following risk factors may predispose to develop Pneumonia is the leading infectious cause of death in fungal infections in the lungs 6 1, 2 developed countries . Though the fungal cause of 1. Acute leukemia or lymphoma during myeloablative pneumonia occupies a minor portion in the immune- chemotherapy competent patients, but it causes a major role in immune- deficient populations. 2. Bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cell transplantation Fungi may colonize body sites without producing disease or they may be a true pathogen, generating a broad variety 3. Solid organ transplantation on immunosuppressive of clinical syndromes. treatment Fungal infections of the lung are less common than 4. Prolonged corticosteroid therapy bacterial and viral infections and very difficult for 5. Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome diagnosis and treatment purposes. Their virulence varies from causing no symptoms to death. Out of more than 1 6. Prolonged neutropenia from various causes lakh species only few fungi cause human infection and 7. Congenital immune deficiency syndromes the most vulnerable organs are skin and lungs3, 4. 8. Postsplenectomy state RISK FACTORS 9. Genetic predisposition Workers or farmers with heavy exposure to bird, bat, or rodent droppings or other animal excreta in endemic EPIDEMIOLOGY OF FUNGAL PNEUMONIA areas are predisposed to any of the endemic fungal The incidences of invasive fungal infections have pneumonias, such as histoplasmosis, in which the increased during recent decades, largely because of the environmental exposure to avian or bat feces encourages increasing size of the population at risk. This population the growth of the organism.
    [Show full text]
  • Trichosporon Beigelii Infection Presenting As White Piedra and Onychomycosis in the Same Patient
    Trichosporon beigelii Infection Presenting as White Piedra and Onychomycosis in the Same Patient Lt Col Kathleen B. Elmer, USAF; COL Dirk M. Elston, MC, USA; COL Lester F. Libow, MC, USA Trichosporon beigelii is a fungal organism that causes white piedra and has occasionally been implicated as a nail pathogen. We describe a patient with both hair and nail changes associated with T beigelii. richosporon beigelii is a basidiomycetous yeast, phylogenetically similar to Cryptococcus.1 T T beigelii has been found on a variety of mammals and is present in soil, water, decaying plants, and animals.2 T beigelii is known to colonize normal human skin, as well as the respiratory, gas- trointestinal, and urinary tracts.3 It is the causative agent of white piedra, a superficial fungal infection of the hair shaft and also has been described as a rare cause of onychomycosis.4 T beigelii can cause endo- carditis and septicemia in immunocompromised hosts.5 We describe a healthy patient with both white piedra and T beigelii–induced onychomycosis. Case Report A 62-year-old healthy man who worked as a pool maintenance employee was evaluated for thickened, discolored thumb nails (Figure 1). He had been aware of progressive brown-to-black discoloration of the involved nails for 8 months. In addition, soft, light yellow-brown nodules were noted along the shafts of several axillary hairs (Figure 2). Microscopic analysis of the hairs revealed nodal concretions along the shafts (Figure 3). No pubic, scalp, eyebrow, eyelash, Figure 1. Onychomycotic thumb nail. or beard hair involvement was present. Cultures of thumb nail clippings on Sabouraud dextrose agar grew T beigelii and Candida parapsilosis.
    [Show full text]
  • Safety Precautions for Working with Cryptococcus Neoformans
    Safety Precautions for Working with Cryptococcus neoformans The basidiomycete fungus Cryptococcus neoformans is an invasive opportunistic pathogen of the central nervous system and the most frequent cause of fungal meningitis worldwide. Although Cryptococcus is a problem in the United States, it is significantly more prevalent and especially devastating in the developing world, such as sub-Saharan Africa, resulting in in more than 625,000 deaths per year worldwide. C. neoformans survives in the environment within soil, trees, and bird guano, where it can interact with wild animals or microbial predators, maintaining its virulence. Human infection is thought to be acquired by inhalation of desiccated yeast cells or spores from an environmental source. C. neoformans can colonize the host respiratory tract without producing any disease. Infection is typically asymptomatic, and it can be either cleared or enter a dormant, latent form. When host immunity is compromised, the dormant form can be reactivated and disseminate hematogenously to cause systemic infection. C. neoformans can infect or spread to any organ to cause localized infections involving the skin, eyes, myocardium, bones, joints, lungs, prostate gland, or urinary tract, in addition to its propensity to infect the central nervous systems. The following diseases and medications are risk factors for C. neoformans infection and are associated with at least some degree of immunosuppression: Ø HIV/AIDs (CD4 < 100cells/mm) Ø Corticosteroids or other immunosuppressive medications for cancer, chemotherapy, or organ transplants Ø Solid organ transplantations Ø Diabetes mellitus Ø Heart, lung, or liver disease Ø Pregnancy Even otherwise healthy, fully immunocompetent individuals can develop cryptococcosis, as may well be the case in a lab accident.
    [Show full text]
  • Scedosporiosis in a Combined Kidney and Liver Transplant Recipient: a Case Report of Possible Transmission from a Near-Drowning Donor
    Hindawi Publishing Corporation Case Reports in Transplantation Volume 2016, Article ID 1879529, 7 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/1879529 Case Report Scedosporiosis in a Combined Kidney and Liver Transplant Recipient: A Case Report of Possible Transmission from a Near-Drowning Donor Rachael Leek,1 Erika Aldag,1 Iram Nadeem,1 Vikraman Gunabushanam,1 Ajay Sahajpal,1,2 David J. Kramer,2,3 and Thomas J. Walsh4 1 Department of Abdominal Transplant, Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center, Milwaukee, WI, USA 2University of Wisconsin School of MedicineandPublicHealth,Madison,WI53726,USA 3Department of Critical Care, Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center, Milwaukee, WI, USA 4Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell University and New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY, USA Correspondence should be addressed to Erika Aldag; [email protected] Received 29 August 2016; Accepted 6 November 2016 Academic Editor: Graeme Forrest Copyright © 2016 Rachael Leek et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Scedosporium spp. are saprobic fungi that cause serious infections in immunocompromised hosts and in near-drowning victims. Solid organ transplant recipients are at increased risk of scedosporiosis as they require aggressive immunosuppression to prevent allograft rejection. We present a case of disseminated Scedosporium apiospermum infection occurring in the recipient of a combined kidney and liver transplantation whose organs were donated by a near-drowning victim and review the literature of scedosporiosis in solid organ transplantation. 1. Introduction near-drowning events. There are few cases of donor to recipient transmission of infection of Scedosporium spp.
    [Show full text]
  • Studies on Fungi Associated with Storage Rot of Carrot
    DOI: 10.21276/sajb.2016.4.10.15 Scholars Academic Journal of Biosciences (SAJB) ISSN 2321-6883 (Online) Sch. Acad. J. Biosci., 2016; 4(10B):880-885 ISSN 2347-9515 (Print) ©Scholars Academic and Scientific Publisher (An International Publisher for Academic and Scientific Resources) www.saspublisher.com Original Research Article Studies on Fungi Associated with Storage Rot of Carrot (Daucus carota L.) and Radish (Raphanus sativas L.) in Odisha, India Khatoon Akhtari1, Mohapatra Ashirbad2, Satapathy Kunja Bihari1* 1Post Graduate, Department of Botany, Utkal University, Vani Vihar, Bhubaneswar-751004, Odisha, India 2Sri Jayadev College of Education and Technology, Naharkanta, Bhubaneswar-752101, Odisha, India *Corresponding author Satapathy Kunja Bihari Email: [email protected] Abstract: An extensive survey on fungi associated with post-harvest deterioration of carrot and radish storage roots was conducted during 2014-2015 in different market places of Odisha, India. Rotten samples were collected from five different localities such as Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Jajpur, Puri, Balasore and Bhadrak. Three fungal species such as Aspergillus niger, Geotrichum candidum and Rhizopus oryzae were isolated from the rotten samples. Of these, Geotrichum candidum has highest percentage frequency of occurrence in both carrot and radish. In carrot next to Geotrichum candidum, Rhizopus oryzae showed more frequency of occurrence than Aspergillus niger but in case of radish the case is just opposite, here the percentage frequency of occurrence of Aspergillus niger was found to be more than Rhizopus oryzae. Pathogenicity tests revealed that all the isolated fungi were pathogenic to their respective host storage roots. However, Rhizopus oryzae was found to be most pathogenic on carrot leading to rapid disintegration of the infected roots while Geotrichum candidum was the least pathogenic.
    [Show full text]
  • Monoclonal Antibodies As Tools to Combat Fungal Infections
    Journal of Fungi Review Monoclonal Antibodies as Tools to Combat Fungal Infections Sebastian Ulrich and Frank Ebel * Institute for Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, D-80539 Munich, Germany; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Received: 26 November 2019; Accepted: 31 January 2020; Published: 4 February 2020 Abstract: Antibodies represent an important element in the adaptive immune response and a major tool to eliminate microbial pathogens. For many bacterial and viral infections, efficient vaccines exist, but not for fungal pathogens. For a long time, antibodies have been assumed to be of minor importance for a successful clearance of fungal infections; however this perception has been challenged by a large number of studies over the last three decades. In this review, we focus on the potential therapeutic and prophylactic use of monoclonal antibodies. Since systemic mycoses normally occur in severely immunocompromised patients, a passive immunization using monoclonal antibodies is a promising approach to directly attack the fungal pathogen and/or to activate and strengthen the residual antifungal immune response in these patients. Keywords: monoclonal antibodies; invasive fungal infections; therapy; prophylaxis; opsonization 1. Introduction Fungal pathogens represent a major threat for immunocompromised individuals [1]. Mortality rates associated with deep mycoses are generally high, reflecting shortcomings in diagnostics as well as limited and often insufficient treatment options. Apart from the development of novel antifungal agents, it is a promising approach to activate antimicrobial mechanisms employed by the immune system to eliminate microbial intruders. Antibodies represent a major tool to mark and combat microbes. Moreover, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are highly specific reagents that opened new avenues for the treatment of cancer and other diseases.
    [Show full text]
  • First Record of Rhizopus Oryzae from Stored Apple Fruits in Saudi Arabia
    Plant Pathology & Quarantine 8(2): 116–121 (2018) ISSN 2229-2217 www.ppqjournal.org Article Doi 10.5943/ppq/8/2/2 Copyright ©Agriculture College, Guizhou University First record of Rhizopus oryzae from stored apple fruits in Saudi Arabia Al-Dhabaan FA Department of Biology, Science and Humanities College Alquwayiyah, Shaqra University, Saudi Arabia Al-Dhabaan FA 2018 – First record of Rhizopus oryzae from stored apple fruits in Saudi Arabia. Plant Pathology & Quarantine 8(2), 116–121, Doi 10.5943/ppq/8/2/2 Abstract During spring 2017, red delicious and Granny Smith apples with soft rot symptoms were collected from commercial markets in Saudi Arabia. The causal agent was isolated from infected fruits and its pathogenicity was confirmed by inoculation assays. To confirm the identity, total genomic DNA was extracted and multi-locus sequence data targeting two gene markers (ITS, ACT) was sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed the presence of two distinct clades; Saudi isolate was placed within a clade comprising Rhizopus oryzae and R. delemar reference isolates. Based on morphological characteristics, molecular identification and pathogenicity test, the fungus was identified as Rhizopus oryzae. This is the first report of Rhizopus soft rot caused by R. oryzae from stored apple fruits in Saudi Arabia. Key words – Rhizopus soft rot – phylogeny – pathogenicity – morphological characters – sequence data Introduction Rhizopus soft rot caused by Rhizopus oryzae occurs worldwide and reduces the quantity and quality of harvested vegetables and ornamental crops during storage, transit, and marketing (Amadioha 1996, 2001, Agrios 2005). Rhizopus soft rot is one of the most important postharvest diseases of apple, banana, watermelon, sweet potato and other hosts in Korea (Kwon et al.
    [Show full text]
  • New and Emerging Yeast Pathogens KEVIN C
    CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY REVIEWS, Oct. 1995, p. 462–478 Vol. 8, No. 4 0893-8512/95/$04.0010 Copyright q 1995, American Society for Microbiology New and Emerging Yeast Pathogens KEVIN C. HAZEN* Division of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Pathology, University of Virginia Health Sciences Center, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................................462 DEFINITION OF NEW OR EMERGING YEAST PATHOGENS ......................................................................462 WHICH YEASTS ARE NEW OR EMERGING PATHOGENS? .........................................................................463 ANATOMIC SITES ATTACKED BY YEASTS.......................................................................................................464 HISTOPATHOLOGY .................................................................................................................................................466 TREATMENT OF INFECTIONS DUE TO UNUSUAL YEASTS .......................................................................466 Catheter Removal ...................................................................................................................................................466 Antifungal Therapy.................................................................................................................................................469 MICROBIOLOGICAL IDENTIFICATION ............................................................................................................469
    [Show full text]