Disrupting mitochondrial perform may enhance therapy of fungal infections
"Our research adds weight to the idea that effective antifungal drugs can target even those mitochondrial proteins that are highly conserved in humans and fungi, and that this could be a way to make a broad spectrum antifungal combination therapy that would be less susceptible to resistance," says Benjamin Vincent, a former graduate student in Whitehead Member Susan Lindquist's lab who is now a scientist at Yumanity Therapeutics. Fungi cause bothersome diaper rashes, oral thrush , athlete's foot, and vaginal yeast infections, but they are also responsible for life-threatening infections in the immunocompromised, including patients receiving transplants, people with HIV/AIDS, cancer patients, and the elderly. Severe invasive fungal infections have a mortality rate of 30-50% and cause an estimated 1.5 million deaths worldwide annually. Doctors rely on three main drug classes -- the azoles (e.g., fluconazole), the echinocandins, and amphotericin -- to treat thes...