Fungal pathogens do not attract as much public attention as viruses and bacteria. They are mostly considered as allergens or weak pathogens attacking mostly immunocompromised patients. However, the most frequently detected genus Aspergillus is a major cause of death in transplantation units and also causes severe infections in patients with AIDS, cystic fibrosis and others. Also the number of cases in immunocompetent humans increase. The majority of clinical isolates is identified as A. fumigatus. While there are many clinical studies focused on treatment of related diseases, the details of A. fumigatus invasion into the host is not fully understood, yet. We can assume, that important players here are the lectins - surface proteins interacting with sugar moieties on host epithelials.
In our work we focused on the lectin AFL. It was identified in A. fumigatus genome as a homologue of the first described fungal lectin AAL. However, our investigation led to discovery of several interesting differences, which might play role in the pathogenicity of A. fumigatus. We combine the molecular biology, structural and functional studies, as well as some basic biological tests to further improve our knowledge of this lectin. The detailed understanding of interaction between pathogen and host may lead to design of principally new antifungal drugs and thus overcome the problem with current drug resistance [1].
This work was supported by the Czech Science Foundation (13-25401S), Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic (LH13055) and CEITEC - Central European Institute of Technology with research infrastructure supported by the project CZ.1.05/1.1.00/02.0068 from European Regional Development Fund.
[1] Sharon N. (2006): Carbohydrates as future anti-adhesion drugs for infectious diseases. Biochim Biophys Acta 1760(4): 527-37.
