UK National Mycology Reference Laboratory, Public Health England South-West Regional Laboratory, Southmead Hospital, Bristol, UK.
Medical Research Council Centre for Medical Mycology (MRC CMM), University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.
Methods Mol Biol. 2022;2517:287-298. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2417-3_23.
Candida species are the most common fungal causes of disseminated infections in humans. Although such infections are associated with high morbidity and mortality, it is widely accepted that virulence, antifungal susceptibility, and disease outcome vary according to individual Candida species. In this respect, the emerging pathogen Candida auris has received much attention due to its propensity to cause widespread nosocomial outbreaks, to exhibit high virulence in several infection models, and to develop resistance to multiple classes of antifungal drugs. Although mammalian models of infection have long been viewed as the gold standard for studies on fungal virulence, comparative pathogenicity, and evaluation of antifungal drug efficacy, the larvae of the greater wax moth Galleria mellonella have shown considerable promise as an alternative invertebrate model of infection. Galleria larvae are inexpensive, are easily maintained in the laboratory, tolerate incubation at human physiological temperatures, possess cellular and humoral immune systems that share many features with mammals, and allow investigation of pathogenicity/virulence using multiple different reading endpoints. Here, I describe in detail the methods that can be used to study the virulence/pathogenicity of Candida auris in G. mellonella.
假丝酵母菌属是人类最常见的真菌性播散性感染的病原体。尽管此类感染与高发病率和高死亡率相关，但广为人知的是，毒力、抗真菌敏感性和疾病结局会因不同的假丝酵母菌属而有所差异。在这方面，新兴病原体耳念珠菌因其易于引起广泛的医院感染暴发、在几种感染模型中表现出高毒力以及对多种类别的抗真菌药物产生耐药性而受到广泛关注。尽管哺乳动物感染模型长期以来一直被视为研究真菌毒力、比较致病性和评估抗真菌药物疗效的金标准，但大蜡螟（Galleria mellonella）幼虫已被证明是一种有前途的替代无脊椎动物感染模型。大蜡螟幼虫价格低廉，易于在实验室中维持，可耐受人类生理温度的孵育，具有与哺乳动物有许多共同特征的细胞和体液免疫系统，并且可以使用多种不同的检测终点来研究致病性/毒力。在这里，我详细描述了可以用于研究耳念珠菌在大蜡螟幼虫中的毒力/致病性的方法。
