Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Medicine, Clinical Laboratory of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, China.
Clinical Laboratory of Nanchang Chest Hospital, Nanchang, Jiangxi, China.
Sci Rep. 2018 Jan 24;8(1):1495. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-20054-4.
Cryptococcosis is a globally distributed infectious fungal disease. However, much remains unknown about its molecular epidemiology in many parts of the world. In this study, we analyzed 86 clinical Cryptococcus neoformans isolates from 14 regions in Jiangxi Province in south central China. Each isolate was from a different patient and 35 of the 86 (40.7%) patients were infected with HIV. All strains belonged to serotype A and mating type α (MATα). Genotyping based on DNA sequences at seven nuclear loci revealed eight sequence types (STs) among the 86 isolates, including two novel STs that have not been reported from other parts of the world. ST5 was the dominant genotype and our comparative analyses showed that these genotypes in Jiangxi likely originated by dispersal from other regions within and outside of China and/or mutations from another genotype within Jiangxi. Though none of the isolates was resistant to the five tested antifungal drugs (flucytosine, amphotericin B, fluconazole, itraconazole, and voriconazole), obvious differences in their minimum inhibitory concentrations were observed, even among isolates of the same ST. Our results suggest that continuous monitoring should be conducted to understand the changing dynamics of C. neoformans in this and other regions.
隐球菌病是一种在全球范围内分布的传染性真菌病。然而，在世界上许多地区，人们对其分子流行病学仍知之甚少。在这项研究中，我们分析了来自中国中南部江西省 14 个地区的 86 株临床新型隐球菌分离株。每个分离株均来自不同的患者，其中 35 名（40.7%）患者感染了 HIV。所有菌株均属于血清型 A 和交配型α（MATα）。基于七个核基因座的 DNA 序列进行基因分型显示，在 86 株分离株中存在 8 种序列型（ST），包括两种尚未从世界其他地区报告的新型 ST。ST5 是主要的基因型，我们的比较分析表明，江西的这些基因型可能是由来自中国境内和境外其他地区的传播以及/或江西境内另一种基因型的突变引起的。虽然没有分离株对五种测试的抗真菌药物（氟胞嘧啶、两性霉素 B、氟康唑、伊曲康唑和伏立康唑）具有耐药性，但即使是同一 ST 的分离株，其最小抑菌浓度也存在明显差异。我们的研究结果表明，应持续监测以了解该地区和其他地区新型隐球菌的动态变化。
