BACKGROUND Vitamin D plays an important role in pulmonary resistance and immunity, and its deficiency has been linked to various respiratory infections. Little is known about the effect of vitamin D deficiency on host pulmonary defense to Aspergillus fumigatus (A. fumigatus). METHODS Mice raised on vitamin D sufficient or deficient diets were infected intratracheally with A. fumigatus conidia...

The function of a number of genes in the gliotoxin biosynthetic cluster (gli) in Aspergillus fumigatus remains unknown. Here, we demonstrate that gliK deletion from two strains of A. fumigatus completely abolished gliotoxin biosynthesis. Furthermore, exogenous H(2)O(2) (1 mM), but not gliotoxin, significantly induced A. fumigatus gliK expression (P = 0.0101). While both mutants exhibited signif...

Aspergillus fumigatus (A. fumigatus) is one of the most common fungi to cause diseases in humans. Recent evidence has demonstrated that airway epithelial cells play an important role in combating A. fumigatus through inflammatory responses. Human airway epithelial cells have been proven to synthesize the active vitamin D, which plays a key role in regulating inflammation. The present study was ...

Allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA) in Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is well documented. Aspergillus fumigatus is the causative agent of ABPA, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa particularly the mucoid variety has been frequently isolated from the sputum of patients with CF. This study investigates the cellular and humoral immune response to both A fumigatus and P aeruginosa antigens in patients with...

The Cu,Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD) of Aspergillus fumigatus has previously been purified and shown to be immunoreactive to the sera of patients with aspergillosis; however, the purification of large quantities of the enzyme for expanded immunological analysis is both difficult and time-consuming. Accordingly, a lambdaEMBL3 A. fumigatus genomic library was screened with degenerate oligonucleot...

Pulmonary exposure to Aspergillus fumigatus has been associated with morbidity and mortality, particularly in immunocompromised individuals. A. fumigatus conidia produce β-glucan, proteases, and other immunostimulatory factors upon germination. Murine models have shown that the ability of A. fumigatus to germinate at physiological temperature may be an important factor that facilitates invasive...

Invasive bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (IBPA) is a life-threatening disease in immunocompromised patients. Although Aspergillus terreus is frequently found in the environment, A. fumigatus is by far the main cause of IBPA. However, once A. terreus establishes infection in the host, disease is as fatal as A. fumigatus infections. Thus, we hypothesized that the initial steps of disease establish...

A cDNA encoding an allergenic protein was isolated from an Aspergillus fumigatus (A. fumigatus) cDNA library displayed on the surface of filamentous phage. Serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) from A. fumigatus-sensitized individuals was used to enrich phage-expressing gene products binding to IgE. One of the cDNAs encoded a 26.7-kD protein that was identified as a manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD...

Aspergillus fumigatus is the most frequent fungus found in the sputum of cystic fibrosis (CF) subjects. Itraconazole is prescribed for allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA) or Aspergillus bronchitis in CF subjects. We hypothesized that A. fumigatus isolates in the sputum of CF subjects with previous exposure to itraconazole was associated with higher prevalence of azole resistance. Fro...

The increasing incidence of azole resistance in Aspergillus fumigatus causing invasive aspergillosis (IA) in immunocompromised/hematological patients emphasizes the need to improve the detection of resistance-mediating cyp51A gene mutations from primary clinical samples, particularly as the diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis is rarely based on a positive culture yield in this group of patients...