Lipid Flippase Subunit Cdc50 Mediates Drug Resistance and Virulence in Cryptococcus neoformans.

ABSTRACT: Cryptococcus neoformans is a human fungal pathogen and a major cause of fungal meningitis in immunocompromised individuals. Treatment options for cryptococcosis are limited. Of the two major antifungal drug classes, azoles are active against C. neoformans but exert a fungistatic effect, necessitating long treatment regimens and leaving open an avenue for emergence of azole resistance. Drugs of the echinocandin class, which target the glucan synthase and are fungicidal against a number of other fungal pathogens, such as Candida species, are ineffective against C. neoformans Despite the sensitivity of the target enzyme to the drug, the reasons for the innate resistance of C. neoformans to echinocandins remain unknown. To understand the mechanism of echinocandin resistance in C. neoformans, w

SUBMITTER: Huang W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4959666 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature