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Microorganisms
Special Issues
Aspergillus and Health 2.0
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Aspergillus and Health 2.0

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Public Health Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 March 2024) | Viewed by 8280

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Raquel Sabino

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Reference Unit for Parasitic and Fungal Infections, Department of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health, Av. Padre Cruz, 1649-016 Lisbon, Portugal
Interests: fungal infections diagnosis; Aspergillus; fungi; infectious diseases; fungal epidemiology and public health; antifungal resistance; molecular biology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is the continuation of our previous special issue "Aspergillus and Health 1.0".

Aspergillus is the filamentous fungi more frequently associated with invasive fungal infection. According to the LIFE organization, more than 30 million patients are at risk for invasive aspergillosis and about 300,000 patients will develop the disease annually. Besides the high mortality rate in immunocompromised patients, significant pulmonary pathology is also associated with Aspergillus-induced allergic and asthmatic lung disease related to occupational exposure. An effective diagnosis is often complex and is still a challenge.  Molecular characterizations of Aspergillus have been contributing to the discovery of new etiological agents and to the knowledge of species distribution and their possible role in pathogenesis, especially regarding antifungal resistance and virulence. Antifungal susceptibility is highly variable among cryptic species, several of which show high in vitro minimal inhibitory concentrations to multiple antifungal drugs. Azole resistance has been increasing in prevalence in A. fumigatus isolates due to the development of acquired resistance caused by prophylaxis/treatment with antifungals, as well as to the use of agricultural azoles and consequent acquisition of resistant isolates from environmental origin, posing new challenges in therapeutic management. This special issue, titled “Aspergillus and Health,” aims to discuss these questions and present some of the most recent studies on this area.

Dr. Raquel Sabino
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Aspergillus
  • Aspergillosis
  • Diagnosis
  • Epidemiology
  • Antifungal resistance

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 1366 KiB  
Article
Regulation of Surfactant Protein Gene Expression by Aspergillus fumigatus in NCl-H441 Cells
by Natalia Schiefermeier-Mach, Lea Heinrich, Lukas Lechner and Susanne Perkhofer
Microorganisms 2023, 11(4), 1011; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11041011 - 12 Apr 2023
Viewed by 1187
Abstract
Aspergillus fumigatus is an opportunistic fungal pathogen that causes serious lung diseases in immunocompromised patients. The lung surfactant produced by alveolar type II and Clara cells in the lungs is an important line of defense against A. fumigatus. The surfactant consists of [...] Read more.
Aspergillus fumigatus is an opportunistic fungal pathogen that causes serious lung diseases in immunocompromised patients. The lung surfactant produced by alveolar type II and Clara cells in the lungs is an important line of defense against A. fumigatus. The surfactant consists of phospholipids and surfactant proteins (SP-A, SP-B, SP-C and SP-D). The binding to SP-A and SP-D proteins leads to the agglutination and neutralization of lung pathogens as well as the modulation of immune responses. SP-B and SP-C proteins are essential for surfactant metabolism and can modulate the local immune response; however, the molecular mechanisms remain unclear. We investigated changes in the SP gene expression in human lung NCI-H441 cells infected with conidia or treated with culture filtrates obtained from A. fumigatus. To further identify fungal cell wall components that may affect the expression of SP genes, we examined the effect of different A. fumigatus mutant strains, including dihydroxynaphthalene (DHN)-melanin-deficient ΔpksP, galactomannan (GM)-deficient Δugm1 and galactosaminogalactan (GAG)-deficient Δgt4bc strains. Our results show that the tested strains alter the mRNA expression of SP, with the most prominent and consistent downregulation of the lung-specific SP-C. Our findings also suggest that secondary metabolites rather than the membrane composition of conidia/hyphae inhibit SP-C mRNA expression in NCI-H441 cells. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aspergillus and Health 2.0)
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12 pages, 669 KiB  
Article
Growth Performance and Recovery of Nosocomial Aspergillus spp. in Blood Culture Bottles
by Salvatore Pasqua, Francesco Monaco, Francesca Cardinale, Simone Bonelli, Pier Giulio Conaldi and Danilo D’Apolito
Microorganisms 2022, 10(10), 2026; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms10102026 - 13 Oct 2022
Viewed by 1474
Abstract
Theoretically, Aspergillus spp. grow in culture media, but frequently, blood cultures of patients with invasive Aspergillosis are negative, even if until now, the reasons are not clear. This aspect underlines the lack of a good strategy for the cultivation and isolation of Aspergillus [...] Read more.
Theoretically, Aspergillus spp. grow in culture media, but frequently, blood cultures of patients with invasive Aspergillosis are negative, even if until now, the reasons are not clear. This aspect underlines the lack of a good strategy for the cultivation and isolation of Aspergillus spp. In order to develop a complete analytical method to detect Aspergillus in clinical and pharmaceutical samples, we investigated the growth performance of two blood culture systems versus the pharmacopeia standard method. At <72 h, all test systems showed comparable sensitivity, about 1–2 conidia. However, the subculture analysis showed a suboptimal recovery for the methods, despite the positive growth and the visualization of the “Aspergillus balls” in the culture media. To investigate this issue, we studied three different subculture approaches: (i) the use of a sterile subculture unit, (ii) the use of a sterile subculture unit and the collection of a larger aliquot (100 µL), following vigorous agitation of the vials, and (iii) to decapsulate the bottle, withdrawing and centrifuging the sample, and aliquot the pellet onto SDA plates. Our results showed that only the third procedure recovered Aspergillus from all positive culture bottles. This work confirmed that our strategy is a valid and faster method to culture and isolate Aspergillus spp. from blood culture bottles. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aspergillus and Health 2.0)
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Review

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12 pages, 289 KiB  
Review
Infection, Allergy, and Inflammation: The Role of Aspergillus fumigatus in Cystic Fibrosis
by T. Spencer Poore and Edith T. Zemanick
Microorganisms 2023, 11(8), 2013; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11082013 - 5 Aug 2023
Viewed by 1027
Abstract
Aspergillus fumigatus (Af) is a mold frequently detected in airway samples from people with cystic fibrosis (pwCF). Abnormal airway mucus may allow Af to germinate, resulting in airway infection or an allergic response. While Af is known to increase morbidity in pwCF, individual [...] Read more.
Aspergillus fumigatus (Af) is a mold frequently detected in airway samples from people with cystic fibrosis (pwCF). Abnormal airway mucus may allow Af to germinate, resulting in airway infection or an allergic response. While Af is known to increase morbidity in pwCF, individual responses and the degree of impact on lung disease vary. Improved approaches to diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of Af, particularly the persistent Af infection, are needed. This update highlights our current understanding of Af pathophysiology in the CF airway, the effects of Af on pwCF, and areas of research needed to improve clinical outcomes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aspergillus and Health 2.0)

Other

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7 pages, 714 KiB  
Perspective
Novel Clinical and Laboratorial Challenges in Aspergillosis
by Raquel Sabino and Cristina Veríssimo
Microorganisms 2022, 10(2), 259; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms10020259 - 24 Jan 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3518
Abstract
In recent years, research in the areas of Aspergillus and aspergillosis has continued to advance rapidly, including advancements in genomics, immunological studies, clinical areas, and diagnostic areas. Recently, new risk groups for the development of aspergillosis have emerged—patients with influenza- or COVID-19-ssociated pulmonary [...] Read more.
In recent years, research in the areas of Aspergillus and aspergillosis has continued to advance rapidly, including advancements in genomics, immunological studies, clinical areas, and diagnostic areas. Recently, new risk groups for the development of aspergillosis have emerged—patients with influenza- or COVID-19-ssociated pulmonary aspergillosis. The rise and spread of antifungal resistances have also become a clinical concern in some geographic areas and have drawn the attention of clinicians due to difficulties in treating these infections. In this paper, a snapshot of these issues is presented, emphasizing these novel clinical and laboratorial challenges in the aspergillosis field and focusing on their actual relevance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aspergillus and Health 2.0)
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