Series The Last Of Us depicts an epidemic that turns humans into violent zombies. Far from this work of fiction, the reality is however also worrying. Fungal infections cause many deaths each year, especially in immunocompromised people. To deal with it, American scientists are working on a vaccine, since none exists!
Series The Last Of Us highlights a pathogenicpathogenic formidable, the mushroomsmushrooms microscopic. Without turning us into zombies, the fungal threat is very real and taken very seriously by scientists. Invasive mycoses are responsible for approximately 1 million deaths per year and 90% of them are attributable to three genera: Candida, Aspergillus et Pneumocystis.
Yeast infections are very common and cause local infections, such as genital yeast infections or athlete’s foot, in healthy people. On the other hand, in immunocompromised or weakened by comorbiditiescomorbidities, yeast infections can become invasive and potentially fatal. Those who are HIV positive HIVHIV are particularly at risk of dying from pneumoniapneumonia fungal due to Pneumocystis jirovecii. People with cancer are also very prone to fungal infections, especially caused by Candida albicans. Depending on the nature of the infection and the health of the patient, these infections can be fatal in up to 43% of cases.
A vaccine candidate once morest fungal infections in pipes
A very real public health problem that anti-fungal drugs are still able to control. But, as for bacteriabacteria and the parasitesparasitesfungi also become resistant to our therapeutic arsenal and no vaccinevaccine is not currently available; scientists are working on the subject. For example, scientists from the University of Georgia, in the United States, are proposing a candidate vaccine consisting of a “pan-fungal” peptide, that is to say present in many speciesspecies fungi and spared from mutations. Pre-clinical tests provide promising results!
The pan-fungal peptide, NXT2, was synthesized by combining the sequence of proteinsproteins KEX1 of Candida albicans, Aspergillus fumigatus et Pneumocystis jirovecii et Cryptococcus neoformans. mice and rhesus macaquesrhesus macaques were immunized with NXT2 and then the scientists mimicked immunosuppression and then fungal infection. Among vaccinated animals, mortality and morbidity decreased compared to those that were not.
Results to be confirmed to deal with this threat
THE antibodyantibody anti-NXT2 might bind to pathogenic fungi and promote their destruction by opsonization, but also prevent them from forming biofilms in the respiratory tract, microbial structures that are resistant to drugs and very difficult to eradicate.
If these results are promising, they will need to be replicated in larger numbers of animals before they can be tested in humans in a clinical testclinical test.
