TY - JOUR
T1 - Cytotoxicity of Aspergillus section Fumigati isolated from health care environments
AU - Viegas, Carla
AU - Twarużek, Magdalena
AU - Almeida, Beatriz
AU - Dias, Marta
AU - Ribeiro, Edna
AU - Carolino, Elisabete
AU - Soszczyńska, Ewelina
AU - Caetano, Liliana Aranha
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: It was co-supported by FCT—Fundação para Ciência e Tecnologia for funding the project EXPOsE—Establishing protocols to assess occupational exposure to microbiota in clinical settings (02/SAICT/2016—Project no 23222), by the Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal for funding the Project “Occupational exposure of ambulance drivers to bioburden” (IPL/2020/BIO-AmbuDrivers_ESTeSL) and by the Polish Minister of Science and Higher Education, under the program “Regional Initiative of Excellence” in 2019–2022 (Grant No. 008/RID/2018/19).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/10
Y1 - 2021/10
N2 - This study analyzed 57 Aspergillus section Fumigati (AF) isolates collected by active and passive sampling (N = 450) in several health care facilities and from biological sampling of health care workers (N = 25) and controls (N = 22) in Portugal. All isolates were cultured in different me-dia and screened for azole resistance. Cytotoxicity was assessed for 40 isolates in lung epithelial cells and kidney cells using the MTT assay. Aspergillus section Fumigati was prevalent in the health care facilities and in nasal swabs from health care workers and controls. All AF isolates reduced cell viability and presented medium to high cytotoxicity, with cytotoxicity being significantly higher in A549 lung epithelial cells. The cytotoxicity of isolates from air and nasal swab samples suggested the inhalation route as a risk factor. Notably, 42% of AF isolates exhibited a pattern of reduced susceptibility to some of the most used antifungals available for the treatment of patients infected with these fungi. In sum, the epidemiology and clinical relevance of Aspergillus section Fumigati should continue to be addressed. A deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying Aspergillus-mediated cytotoxicity is necessary.
AB - This study analyzed 57 Aspergillus section Fumigati (AF) isolates collected by active and passive sampling (N = 450) in several health care facilities and from biological sampling of health care workers (N = 25) and controls (N = 22) in Portugal. All isolates were cultured in different me-dia and screened for azole resistance. Cytotoxicity was assessed for 40 isolates in lung epithelial cells and kidney cells using the MTT assay. Aspergillus section Fumigati was prevalent in the health care facilities and in nasal swabs from health care workers and controls. All AF isolates reduced cell viability and presented medium to high cytotoxicity, with cytotoxicity being significantly higher in A549 lung epithelial cells. The cytotoxicity of isolates from air and nasal swab samples suggested the inhalation route as a risk factor. Notably, 42% of AF isolates exhibited a pattern of reduced susceptibility to some of the most used antifungals available for the treatment of patients infected with these fungi. In sum, the epidemiology and clinical relevance of Aspergillus section Fumigati should continue to be addressed. A deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying Aspergillus-mediated cytotoxicity is necessary.
KW - Aspergillus section Fumigati
KW - Cytotoxicity
KW - Health care environment
KW - Lung epithelial cells
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85117214030&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/jof7100839
DO - 10.3390/jof7100839
M3 - Article
C2 - 34682260
AN - SCOPUS:85117214030
SN - 2309-608X
VL - 7
JO - Journal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland)
JF - Journal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland)
IS - 10
M1 - 839
ER -