Перехитрить устойчивость к грибкам: ученые открыли новый способ победить смертельный грибок

Ученые из КОРОЛЕВСТВО Центр устойчивых научных исследований (CSRS) и Университет Торонто открыли новый способ борьбы с грибковыми инфекциями. Этот подход нацелен на способность грибов производить жирные кислоты, основной компонент жиров.

Поскольку устойчивость к традиционным противогрибковым препаратам продолжает расти, эта инновационная стратегия особенно ценна, учитывая ее уникальный механизм и широкомасштабное воздействие на различные грибковые заболевания.

” data-gt-translate-атрибуты = “[{” attribute=””>species. The findings of the study were published in the scientific journal Cell Chemical Biology.

Most of us are familiar with athlete’s foot, a relatively harmless health issue that can be solved by a trip to the drugstore. But other fungal infections are more serious, and the Candida, Cryptococcus, and Aspergillus types of fungus are responsible for millions of deaths every year. Like bacterial resistance to antibiotics, fungal resistance to medications is also growing worldwide, and the death toll will likely rise in the near future unless something is done now.

Currently, there are only three major classes of anti-fungal medications, and all of them work by destroying the barrier that surrounds fungal cells. Paradoxically, even though they all attack the barrier, current treatments are actually very specific, meaning that what kills one species of fungus might not kill another.

A fungus (C. neoformans) grown in three conditions: untreated, treated with a sub-lethal dose of the fatty acid synthase inhibitor NPD6433, and treated with a fluconazole. The number and virulence of fungi were reduced with NPD6433 treatment. Credit: RIKEN

The group of researchers wanted to find another way to combat harmful fungi, one that would be useful against numerous species. Their approach was to first screen the structurally-diverse RIKEN natural product depository (NPDepo) against four pathogenic yeasts—three Candida and one Cryptococcus species—which have been identified as critical human pathogens by the World Health Organization. They were looking for something that would affect all four species, which would indicate that it might be effective against a broad range of fungi.

The screening identified several compounds that reduced fungal growth by at least 50% in each of the four species, and after eliminating ones that were already known, the researchers were left with three new possibilities. Among these three, the one least toxic to human cells also reduced the growth of Aspergillus fumigatus, an extremely common fungal mold that is deadly to immuno-compromised individuals. The name given to this compound in the RIKEN NPDepo is NPD6433. The next step was to find out what it does.

For almost 1000 different genes, the researchers looked at how much NPD6433 suppressed growth in yeast when the yeast was missing one copy of the gene. They found that reduction in only one gene, fatty