疾病及处理

The near completion of sequencing the Candida albicans genome has made it possible to employ genomic technologies, such as microarray analysis, to aid in identifying key genes involved in such clinical problems as the acquisition of high-level resistance to azole antifungal agents. Her ...

Candida albicans is capable of forming biofilms on a variety of inert and biological surfaces. Cells in biofilms display phenotypic properties that are radically different from their free-floating planktonic counterparts, including their recalcitrance to antimicrobial ag ...

The increase in fungal infections and the change in fungal epidemiology is caused by the extensive use of antifungal agents to treat fungal infections that are being diagnosed in severly immunocompromised hosts. In addition, opportunistic fungal infections resistant to antifungal ...

The growing importance of infectious caused by Aspergillus species during the last decade has created a need for practical and reproducible animal models of invasive aspergillosis suitable for studying fungal virulence, infection pathogenesis, diagnostic markers, and testi ...

Postantifungal effect (PAFE) is the evaluation of antifungal activity after the suppression of fungal growth when the drug is removed from the fungal suspension. In vitro, this effect might simulate the in vivo situation when the concentration of the drug falls to less than the minimum inhibi ...

The need for new antifungal agents continues, fueled by opportunistic infections in immunecompromised patients and by the development of resistance to existing agents. Natural products offer a virtually unlimited source of unique molecules and not only serve as a reservoir for new pot ...

Animal models have been helpful in assessing a drug’s potential application to treatment of humans. These controlled experiments allow description of the impact of a wide range of important treatment variables, including drug dose or concentration, dosing interval, pathogen, and host ...

Histoplasma capsulatum (Hc) is a dimorphic fungal pathogen indigenous to the Ohio and Mississippi River Valleys in the United States. Infection is initiated by inhalation of microconidia or small mycelial fragments into the terminal bronchioles of the lung. The conidia are taken up by alv ...

Candida albicans and non-albicans Candida spp. can cause serious infections in hospitalized and immunocompromised patients. A large number of antifungal agents and immunomodulators have been developed and may interact with both polymorphonuclear and mononuclear phagocy ...

Cryptococcus neoformans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen that may lead to life-threatening meningoencephalitis and pulmonary infections in immunosuppressed hosts. The lack of an effective fungicidal regimen and the development of antifungal resistant strains sugge ...

Pore-forming toxins (PFTs) belong to the membrane-damaging toxins supergroup, a family of proteins already quite large but still quickly growing (1). PFTs are used by the bacteria to attack potentially harmful cells of the host, for example cells of the immune system, or to obtain nutrients, for e ...

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is a relatively new technique extremely useful for studying macromolecular interactions between proteins, proteins and DNA, or proteins and lipids. Biospecific interaction analyses using SPR provides valuable information about the strengt ...

Bordetella pertussis, the causative agent of whooping cough, secretes a plethora of virulence factors contributing to the onset and characteristic of the disease. The exotoxin pertussis toxin (PT) is regarded as particularly important during pertussis infection, as it is involved in ...

The biotechnological generation of high affinity monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) has traditionally involved the production of hybridomas from spleen cells of immunized animals (1). This event, together with availability of increasingly sophisticated molecular biology and p ...

The superantigens (SAgs) staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs) are produced by certain strains of Staphylococcus aureus and comprise structurally related bacterial proteins, which are among the most potent mitogens known for murine and human T lymphocytes (1,2). T-cell activation ...

Botulinum (BoNT, serotypes A-G, see also Chapter 2) and tetanus (TeNT) neurotoxins are known under the generic term of clostridial neurotoxins. These dichainal proteins comprise a light (Mr R~50) and a heavy (Mr R~100) chain that are disulfide linked. In mammals, these proteins are the causative a ...

Approximately 100 yr ago Richard Pfeiffer, a co-worker of Robert Koch in Berlin, discovered that cholera bacteria produced, in addition to heat-labile exotoxin, another toxin (1). In contrast to the secreted exotoxins this new, heat-stable toxin was found to be a constituent of the bacterial ce ...

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is an essential component of the outer membrane of all Gram-negative bacteria (1). This complex class of lipoglycans can trigger a cascade of immunological responses in mammals including endotoxic effects and serum antibody production. LPSs have been found ...

The outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, which include many human pathogens, contains various proteins, polysaccharides, and glycolipids. Of these, lipopolysaccharides (LPS) are of particular microbiological, immuno-logical, and medical importance. As the major amp ...

Two types of lipopolysaccharides (LPS) exist: smooth (S) and rough (R) forms (1–3). Both LPS forms are found in wild-type bacteria. They consist of a lipid moiety, lipid A, which comprises a (phosphorylated) disaccharide of glucosamine or 2,3-diamino-2,3-dideoxy-D-glucose that is acylated by ...