Members of the complex are the causative agents of Paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM), a human systemic mycosis endemic in Latin America. Upon initial contact with the host, the pathogen needs to uptake micronutrients. Nitrogen is an essential source for biosynthetic pathways.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn the study of fungal pathogenesis, alternative methods have gained prominence due to recent global legislation restricting the use of mammalian animals in research. The principle of the 3 Rs (replacement, reduction, and refinement) is integrated into regulations and guidelines governing animal experimentation in nearly all countries. This principle advocates substituting vertebrate animals with other invertebrate organisms, embryos, microorganisms, or cell cultures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFungal infections represent a serious global health problem, causing damage to health and the economy on the scale of millions. Although vaccines are the most effective therapeutic approach used to combat infectious agents, at the moment, no fungal vaccine has been approved for use in humans. However, the scientific community has been working hard to overcome this challenge.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNitrogen is a crucial nutrient for microorganisms that compose essential biomolecules. However, hosts limit this nutrient as a strategy to counter infections, therefore, pathogens use adaptive mechanisms to uptake nitrogen from alternative sources. In fungi, nitrogen catabolite repression (NCR) activates transcription factors to acquire nitrogen from alternative sources when preferential sources are absent.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSystemic mycoses have been viewed as neglected diseases and they are responsible for deaths and disabilities around the world. Rapid, low-cost, simple, highly-specific and sensitive diagnostic tests are critical components of patient care, disease control and active surveillance. However, the diagnosis of fungal infections represents a great challenge because of the decline in the expertise needed for identifying fungi, and a reduced number of instruments and assays specific to fungal identification.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFungi of the genus Paracoccidioides are the etiological agents of Paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM), the most prevalent mycosis in Latin America. Paracoccidioidomycosis infection is acquired by inhalation of Paracoccidioides conidia, which have first contact with the lungs and can subsequently spread to other organs/tissues. Until now, there have been no proteomic studies focusing on this infectious particle of Paracoccidioides.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe genus Paracoccidioides consist of dimorphic fungi geographically limited to the subtropical regions of Latin America, which are responsible for causing deep systemic mycosis in humans. However, the molecular mechanisms by which Paracoccidioides spp. causes the disease remain poorly understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe interaction between the fungal pathogen Paracoccidioides brasiliensis and host cells is usually mediated by specific binding events between adhesins on the fungal surface and receptors on the host extracellular matrix or cell surface. One molecule implicated in the P. brasiliensis-host interaction is the 14-3-3 protein.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFParacoccidioidomycosis (PCM) is a systemic granulomatous human mycosis caused by fungi of the genus Paracoccidioides, which is geographically restricted to Latin America. Inhalation of spores, the infectious particles of the fungus, is a common route of infection. The PCM treatment of choice is azoles such as itraconazole, but sulfonamides and amphotericin B are used in some cases despite their toxicity to mammalian cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Paracoccidioides brasiliensis is a human thermal dimorphic pathogenic fungus. Survival of P. brasiliensis inside the host depends on the adaptation of this fungal pathogen to different conditions, namely oxidative stress imposed by immune cells.
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