Pneumocystis jirovecii Rtt109, a novel drug target for Pneumocystis pneumonia in immunosuppressed humans.

ABSTRACT: Pneumocystis pneumonia (PcP) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients. In humans, PcP is caused by the opportunistic fungal species Pneumocystis jirovecii. Progress in Pneumocystis research has been hampered by a lack of viable in vitro culture methods, which limits laboratory access to human-derived organisms for drug testing. Consequently, most basic drug discovery research for P. jirovecii is performed using related surrogate organisms such as Pneumocystis carinii, which is derived from immunosuppressed rodents. While these studies provide useful insights, important questions arise about interspecies variations and the relative utility of identified anti-Pneumocystis agents against human P. jirovecii. Our recent work has identified the histone acet

SUBMITTER: Dahlin JL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4068529 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature