We sought to determine if sufficient redundancy exists between specific IgE testing for Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus niger to eliminate one of the assays in determining Aspergillus hypersensitivity. We reviewed regional laboratory results comparing A fumigatus-specific IgE with A niger-specific IgE using the Pharmacia UniCAP system (Pharmacia, Kalamazoo, MI). By using the Fisher exact ...

Immune suppression increases the incidence of invasive fungal infections, particularly those caused by the opportunistic mold Aspergillus fumigatus. Previous investigations revealed that members of the TLR family are not absolutely required for host defense against A. fumigatus in nonimmunosuppressed hosts, suggesting that other pattern recognition receptors are involved. We show in this study ...

Natural Killer (NK) cells are active against Aspergillus fumigatus, which in turn is able to impair the host defense. Unfortunately, little is known on the mutual interaction of NK cells and A. fumigatus. We coincubated human NK cells with A. fumigatus hyphae and assessed the gene expression and protein concentration of selected molecules. We found that A. fumigatus up-regulates the gene expres...

voriconazole is the first-line therapy for invasive aspergillosis. nevertheless, mortality remains high due to different factors. although azoles are very active in vitro against aspergillus fumigatus, several studies have reported azole-resistant a. fumigatus isolates in european countries, asia, and the united states. therefore, new approaches are needed. the aim of the present study was to e...

background and objectives: phospholipases are a group of enzymes that breakdown phospholipid molecules producing second products. these second products play a diverse role in the cell such as signal transduction and digestion in humans. in this study, the effect of phospholipids on the expression of pld genes of a. fumigatus was investigated. the pld genes of this fungus were also investigated ...

Aspergillus fumigatus is a filamentous fungus which can cause invasive disease in immunocompromised individuals. A. fumigatus can grow in medium containing up to 80% human serum, despite very low concentrations of free iron. The purpose of this study was to determine the mechanism by which A. fumigatus obtains iron from the serum iron-binding protein transferrin. In iron-depleted minimal essent...

The opportunistic fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus is increasingly found as a coinfecting agent along with Pseudomonas aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis patients. Amongst the numerous molecules secreted by P. aeruginosa during its growth, phenazines constitute a major class. P. aeruginosa usually secreted four phenazines, pyocyanin (PYO), phenazine-1-carboxamide (PCN), 1-hydroxyphenazine (1-HP...

Aspergillus fumigatus complex comprises A. fumigatus and other morphologically indistinguishable cryptic species. We retrospectively studied 362 A. fumigatus complex isolates (353 samples) from 150 patients with proven or probable invasive aspergillosis or aspergilloma (2, 121, and 6 samples, respectively) admitted to the hospital from 1999 to 2011. Isolates were identified using the β-tubulin ...

Nucleotide sequences of 426 bp from the mitochondrial (mt) cytochrome b genes of six anamorph species and two species of Neosartorya teleomophs of Aspergillus section Fumigati were determined. These sequences were used to build nucleotide- and amino acid-based trees for phylogenetic analysis. Thirteen strains of A. fumigatus including 10 clinical isolates of A. fumigatus, 1 type culture of A. f...

The in vitro susceptibility of 105 clinical and environmental strains of Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus flavus to antifungal drugs, such as amphotericin B, azoles, and echinocandins was evaluated by the broth microdilution method proposed by the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST). Following the EUCAST-proposed breakpoints, 20% and 25% of the clinical and ...