Model Could Reveal New Weapons to Fight Fungal Pneumonia

credit: Wikipedia

Scientists have taken a big step forward in the fight against Pneumocystis pneumonia, the most common fungal pneumonia in children and a priority pathogen for the World Health Organization.

In a study published in the journal mBio, researchers at Tulane University were able to use precision-cut slices of lung tissue to study the fungus, which causes pneumonia in immunosuppressed patients and children.

"Pneumocystis is likely the most common fungal pneumonia in children and attempts at culturing the organism have largely not been successful," says corresponding author Jay Kolls.

"Thus, we have not had new antibiotics in over 20 years as they have to be tested in experimental animal studies."

In their study, the researchers used tissue from mice to cultivate two forms of the fungusthe troph and ascusfor up to 14 days.

"This is the first time both the trophic and ascus forms of Pneumocystis have been maintained long-term outside a mammalian host," says Kolls.

They also confirmed the model's potential for in vitro drug testing.

"With optimization, we believe precision lung slices could enable actual growth of Pneumocystis and become a powerful tool for developing new medications to treat this infection," Kolls says in a

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