scholarly journals Are We There Yet? Recent Progress in the Molecular Diagnosis and Novel Antifungal Targeting of Aspergillus fumigatus and Invasive Aspergillosis

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. e1003642 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Steinbach
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. e240434
Author(s):  
David Ranford ◽  
Chong Kang ◽  
Mairead Kelly ◽  
Luigi Volpini

Laryngeal aspergillosis is most commonly seen as a secondary infection that spreads from the lungs and tracheobronchial tree. Primary invasive aspergillosis of the larynx is rare and most likely seen in an immunocompromised patient. We present a case of a 59-year-old woman who presented with progressive dysphonia and subsequently acute stridor. She is a non-smoker with a recent diagnosis of acute myeloid leukaemia. Fibreoptic nasendoscopy revealed a left sided vocal cord lesion ball valving into the glottic space. Histology taken during emergency debulking confirmed Aspergillus fumigatus and the patient was successfully treated with intravenous antifungals. Although there are cases of primary laryngeal aspergillosis discussed in the literature, to the best of our knowledge this is the first reported case to have caused acute airway distress requiring emergency intervention.


2011 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
pp. 534-537 ◽  
Author(s):  
José C. Palomares ◽  
Samuel Bernal ◽  
María Marín ◽  
Victoria Pérez Holgado ◽  
Carmen Castro ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan P. Wiederhold ◽  
Laura K. Najvar ◽  
Rosie Jaramillo ◽  
Marcos Olivo ◽  
Brian L. Wickes ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We evaluated extended-interval dosing of the investigational echinocandin rezafungin (1, 4, and 16 mg/kg on days 1, 4, and 7 postinoculation) for the treatment of disseminated invasive aspergillosis caused by azole-resistant Aspergillus fumigatus. Survival was significantly improved in mice treated with each dose of rezafungin and supratherapeutic posaconazole (20 mg/kg twice daily). Kidney fungal burden, as measured by quantitative real-time PCR, was also significantly reduced in mice treated with rezafungin although variability was observed.


Antibiotics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 813
Author(s):  
Chukwuemeka Samson Ahamefule ◽  
Blessing C. Ezeuduji ◽  
James C. Ogbonna ◽  
Anene N. Moneke ◽  
Anthony C. Ike ◽  
...  

With the mortality rate of invasive aspergillosis caused by Aspergillus fumigatus reaching almost 100% among some groups of patients, and with the rapidly increasing resistance of A. fumigatus to available antifungal drugs, new antifungal agents have never been more desirable than now. Numerous bioactive compounds were isolated and characterized from marine resources. However, only a few exhibited a potent activity against A. fumigatus when compared to the multitude that did against some other pathogens. Here, we review the marine bioactive compounds that display a bioactivity against A. fumigatus. The challenges hampering the discovery of antifungal agents from this rich habitat are also critically analyzed. Further, we propose strategies that could speed up an efficient discovery and broaden the dimensions of screening in order to obtain promising in vivo antifungal agents with new modes of action.


2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Seyedmojtaba Seyedmousavi ◽  
Johan W. Mouton ◽  
Willem J. G. Melchers ◽  
Paul E. Verweij

ABSTRACT Using an immunocompetent murine model of invasive aspergillosis (IA), we previously reported that the efficacy of liposomal amphotericin B (L-AmB) (Ambisome) is not hampered by the presence of azole resistance mutations in Aspergillus fumigatus (S. Seyedmousavi, W. J. G. Melchers, J. W. Mouton, and P. E. Verweij, Antimicrob Agents Chemother 57:1866–1871, 2013, https://doi.org/10.1128/AAC.02226-12 ). We here investigated the role of immune suppression, i.e., neutropenia and steroid treatment, in L-AmB efficacy in mice infected with wild-type (WT) A. fumigatus and with azole-resistant A. fumigatus harboring a TR34/L98H mutation in the cyp-51A gene. Survival of treated animals at day 14 in both immunosuppressed models was significantly better than that of nontreated controls. A dose-response relationship was observed that was independent of the azole-resistant mechanism and the immunosuppression method used. In the neutropenic model, 100% survival was reached at an L-AmB dose of 16 mg/kg of body weight for the WT strain and the TR34/L98H isolate. In the steroid-treated group, 90.9% survival and 100% survival were achieved for the WT isolate and the TR34/L98H isolate with an L-AmB dose of 16 mg/kg, respectively. The 50% effective dose (ED50) was 1.40 mg/kg (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.66 to 3.00 mg/kg) for the WT isolate and 1.92 mg/kg (95% CI, 0.60 to 6.17 mg/kg) for the TR34/L98H isolate in the neutropenic model and was 2.40 mg/kg (95% CI, 1.93 to 2.97 mg/kg) for the WT isolate and 2.56 mg/kg (95% CI, 1.43 to 4.56 mg/kg) for the TR34/L98H isolate in the steroid-treated group. Overall, there were no significant differences between the two different immunosuppressed conditions in the efficacy of L-AmB against the wild-type and azole-resistant isolates (P > 0.9). However, the required L-AmB exposure was significantly higher than that seen in the immunocompetent model.


2008 ◽  
Vol 52 (9) ◽  
pp. 3118-3126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Vallon-Eberhard ◽  
Arik Makovitzki ◽  
Anne Beauvais ◽  
Jean-Paul Latgé ◽  
Steffen Jung ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Aspergillus fumigatus is an opportunistic fungal pathogen responsible for invasive aspergillosis in immunocompromised individuals. The inefficiency of antifungal agents and high mortality rate resulting from invasive aspergillosis remain major clinical concerns. Recently, we reported on a new family of ultrashort cationic lipopeptides active in vitro against fungi. Mode of action studies supported a membranolytic or a detergent-like effect. Here, we screened several lipopeptides in vitro for their anti-A. fumigatus activity. To investigate the therapeutic properties of the selected peptides in vivo, we challenged immunosuppressed C57BL/6 wild-type mice intranasally with DsRed-labeled A. fumigatus conidia and subsequently treated the animals locally with the lipopeptides. Confocal microscopic analysis revealed the degradation of DsRed-labeled hyphal forms and residual conidia in the lungs of the mice. The most efficient peptide was tested further using a survival assay and was found to significantly prolong the life of the treated animals, whereas no mice survived with the current standard antifungal treatment with amphotericin B. Moreover, as opposed to the drug-treated lungs, the peptide-treated lungs did not display any toxicity of the peptide. Our results highlight the potential of this family of lipopeptides for the treatment of pulmonary invasive aspergillosis.


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