JOSHUA NOSANCHUK

..Cell wall pigmentation in W. dermatitidis depends on the WdPKS1 gene, which encodes a polyketide synthase required for generating the key precursor for dihydroxynaphthalene melanin biosynthesis...

..The major fungal pathogens responsible for myocardial infection and the clinical settings in which they occur are reviewed...

..capsulatum virulence and numerous recent advances have been made regarding the pathogenesis of this fungus that will improve our capacity to combat disease...

..Melanization reduced susceptibility to amphotericin B, but not to itraconazole or voriconazole. Since melanin is an important virulence factor in other pathogenic fungi, this pigment may affect the pathogenesis of blastomycosis...

..This review discusses the antifungal drugs that are clinically in use and summarizes interesting new applications and patents from the US Patent and Trademark Office...

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..This paper reviews the recent data on protective antibody in histoplasmosis and previous data supporting a role for antibody in protective responses in other dimorphic fungi...

..Since melanin is an important virulence factor in other pathogenic fungi, it may affect the pathogenesis of coccidioidomycosis...

..These results imply that melanin remodelling occurs during cell growth in a process that involves degradation and synthesis at sites of budding...

..Since melanin is an important virulence factor in other pathogenic fungi, this pigment may have a similar role to play in the pathogenesis of histoplasmosis...

..The high activity of voriconazole against both melanized and nonmelanized cells results suggest that voriconazole may be a particularly valuable drug for cryptococcosis...

..Hence, IgG1 and IgG2a MAbs to Hsp60 can modify H. capsulatum pathogenesis in part by altering the intracellular fate of the fungus and inducing the production of Th1-associated cytokines...

..Furthermore, the results indicate that fungal melanins protect C. neoformans and H. capsulatum from the activities of amphotericin B and caspofungin and that this protection is not demonstrable by standard broth macrodilution assays...

..The MAb alters the intracellular fate of H. capsulatum by affecting the ability of the fungus to regulate the milieu of the phagosome...

..These results are consistent with the view that soil amoebae may contribute to the selection and maintenance of certain traits in pathogenic dimorphic fungi that confer on these microbes the capacity for virulence in mammals...

..Hence, voriconazole affects melanization in C. neoformans by interacting directly with laccase, which may increase the efficacy of this potent antifungal against certain pigmented fungi...

..Thus, these heptapeptides appear to have potentially significant advantages for targeted therapy of melanoma relative to existing melanin-binding peptides...

..The process of melanization poses fascinating problems in cell biology and provides a type of pathogenic strategy that is common to highly diverse pathogens...

..The results provide strong evidence that cryptococcal melanization can influence the immune response to infection and suggest that immunomodulation is an additional mechanism by which the pigment contributes to virulence...

..Our results demonstrate the capacity of carbohydrate source and concentration to modify the expression of a major virulence factor of C. neoformans. These findings may impact the clinical management of cryptococcosis...

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..Our results indicate that cryptococcal biofilms are susceptible to treatment with chitosan, suggesting an option for the prevention or treatment of fungal biofilms on indwelling medical devices...

..Melanin protected fungi against ionizing radiation and its radioprotective properties were a function of its chemical composition, free radical quenching, and spherical spatial arrangement...

..With use of a murine model of histoplasmosis, this study establishes that methamphetamine may alter the immune system of the host and enhance fungal pathogenesis...

..Chitosan should be considered for the prevention or treatment of fungal biofilms on central venous catheters and perhaps other medical devices...

..The results show that the PD-1/PD-L pathway has a key role in the regulation of antifungal immunity, and suggest that manipulation of this pathway represents a strategy of immunotherapy for histoplasmosis...

..These results indicate that radiolabeled melanin-binding peptides are efficient and safe in treatment of melanoma and could be potentially useful against this tumor...

..The discovery of vesicular transport in fungi opens many new avenues for investigation in basic cell biology and pathogenesis...

..neoformans virulence in the environment and suggest that D. discoideum promises to be an extremely useful system for studying the interaction of C. neoformans with phagocytic cells...

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..We propose a model of cryptococcal melanin structure whereby the melanin granules are held together in layers. This structural model has implications for cell division, cell wall remodeling, and antifungal drug discovery...

..The findings with C. neoformans may provide a paradigm for understanding the origin and maintenance of virulence in other pathogenic environmental fungi...

..We examined the effects of amphotericin B on C. neoformans during murine infection. The antifungal reduced capsule size and serum polysaccharide, which suggests an additional mechanism for amphotericin B's efficacy in cryptococcosis...

..neoformans in different substrates affected cell and capsule size but not capsule induction. Hence, the type of pigment produced by C. neoformans is dependent on the substrate and not all pigments meet the criteria for melanins...

..The antifungal reduced serum polysaccharide and significantly prolonged the survival of lethally infected animals...

..This result suggests that precautions may be warranted when disposing bedding from cages that housed mice with pulmonary C. neoformans infection...

..We hypothesized that ionizing radiation could change the electronic properties of melanin and might enhance the growth of melanized microorganisms...

..Mutants deficient in the LIP8 gene were significantly less virulent in a murine intravenous infection model. The results clearly indicate that Lip8p is an important virulence factor of C. albicans...

..This efficient system for targeted gene deletion holds great promise for rapidly enhancing our knowledge of the biology and virulence of this increasingly common invasive fungal pathogen...

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..parapsilosis growth in the absence of exogenous fatty acids, is involved in unsaturated fatty acid production, influences fungal virulence, and represents a promising antifungal drug target...

..parapsilosis in complex with ASA. The results suggest that development of inhibitors of fungal lipases could result in broad-spectrum therapeutics, especially since fungal lipases are not homologous to their human analogues...

..16 cells, although modest increases in IL-4 and IFN-gamma occurred upon LPS stimulation. Hence, echinocandins appear to be relatively non-toxic, and protect against fungal contamination in cell culture...

..Meth exerts previously unreported direct immunosuppressive effects that contribute to increased risk of infection and exacerbate AIDS pathology...

..This further demonstrates the complexities of host-pathogen interactions...

..parapsilosis virulence. The emerging information will provide a deeper understanding of C. parapsilosis pathogenesis and facilitate the development of new therapeutic approaches for treating C. parapsilosis infections...

..These findings suggest that A7-mediated aggregation enhances resistance to ST3, most likely by enhancing C3 deposition on the ST3 capsule, thereby promoting host antipneumococcal activity in vivo...

..Our data show that reconstituted human tissues are extremely useful for modeling host interactions with C. parapsilosis and for studying fungal virulence factors...

..However, given the presence of a large reservoir of latently infected individuals in the city and an ongoing tuberculosis pandemic, New York city continues to face significant challenges from this persistent pathogen...

..Together, these data suggest that these NO-releasing nanoparticles have the potential to serve as a novel class of topically applied antimicrobials for the treatment of cutaneous infections and wounds...

..These data suggest that NO-np may be useful therapeutics for microbial abscesses...

..To explore the structure of melanin using biochemistry, phage display peptide libraries and mAbs; and 4. To use peptides and mAbs to study C. neoformans melanogenesis in vivo and in vitro. ..

..These studies are expected to lead to insights into H. capsulatum pathogenesis and initiate the development of new therapeutic and diagnostic reagents. ..