antifungal tagged posts

Fungal infections kill millions of people each year, and modern medicine is struggling to keep up. But researchers at McMaster University have identified a molecule that may help turn the tide—butyrolactolA, a chemical compound that targets a deadly, disease-causing fungi called Cryptococcus neoformans.

Infections caused by Cryptococcus are extremely dangerous. The pathogen, which can cause pneumonia-like symptoms, is notoriously drug-resistant, and it often preys on people with weakened immune systems, like cancer patients or those living with HIV. And the same can be said about other fungal pathogens, like Candida auris or Aspergillus fumigatus—both of which, like Cryptococcus, have been declared priority pathogens by the World Health Organization.

Despite the threat, thou...

This is opportunistic fungus called candida albicans (red) engulfed by CX3CR1+ phagocytes (green) in the gut villi (blue). Credit: Dr. Iliyan Iliev and Dr. Irina Leonardi

Immune cells that process food and bacterial antigens in the intestines control the intestinal population of fungi, according to a new study from Weill Cornell Medicine scientists. Defects in the fungus-fighting abilities of these cells may contribute to some cases of Crohn’s disease and other forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

“After discovering that fungi might be involved in the pathology of IBD, one of the big questions in the field has been how to identify patients who would benefit from antifungal co-therapy, and our finding suggests a way to do that,” said Dr...