Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA.
Institute of Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery (ICB&DD), Stony Brook, NY, USA.
Methods Mol Biol. 2024;2775:411-422. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3722-7_28.
Cryptococcus neoformans infections are a major worldwide concern as current treatment strategies are becoming less effective in alleviating the infection. The most extreme and fatal cases are those of immunocompromised individuals. Clinical treatments for cryptococcosis are limited to a few classes of approved drugs, and due to a rise in drug resistance, these drugs are becoming less effective. Therefore, it is essential to develop innovative ways to control this infection. Vaccinations have emerged as a safe, viable, and cost-effective solution to treat a number of diseases over the years. Currently, there are no clinically available vaccines to treat cryptococcal infections, but a number of studies have shown promising results in animal models. Here, we present step-by-step experimental protocols using live-attenuated or heat-killed C. neoformans cells as a vaccination strategy in a preventive or in a therapeutic murine model of cryptococcosis.
新型隐球菌感染是一个全球性的重大问题，因为目前的治疗策略在缓解感染方面的效果越来越差。最严重和致命的病例是那些免疫功能低下的个体。隐球菌病的临床治疗仅限于少数几类批准的药物，而且由于耐药性的上升，这些药物的效果越来越差。因此，开发控制这种感染的创新方法至关重要。多年来，疫苗接种已成为治疗多种疾病的一种安全、可行和具有成本效益的解决方案。目前，尚无临床可用的疫苗来治疗新型隐球菌感染，但许多研究在动物模型中显示出了有希望的结果。在这里，我们提供了使用活减毒或热灭活新型隐球菌细胞作为预防或治疗隐球菌病的小鼠模型中的疫苗接种策略的逐步实验方案。
