82 results on '"María-Dolores, Moragues"'
Search Results
2. The Third Codon Nucleotide’s Role in Genetic Recombination Within SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein: A Pilot Study
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Guerrero-Tamayo, Ana, Urquijo, Borja Sanz, Olivares, Isabel, Tosantos, María-Dolores Moragues, Casado, Concepción, Pastor-López, Iker, Goos, Gerhard, Series Editor, Hartmanis, Juris, Founding Editor, Bertino, Elisa, Editorial Board Member, Gao, Wen, Editorial Board Member, Steffen, Bernhard, Editorial Board Member, Yung, Moti, Editorial Board Member, Quintián, Héctor, editor, Corchado, Emilio, editor, Troncoso Lora, Alicia, editor, Pérez García, Hilde, editor, Jove Pérez, Esteban, editor, Calvo Rolle, José Luis, editor, Martínez de Pisón, Francisco Javier, editor, García Bringas, Pablo, editor, Martínez Álvarez, Francisco, editor, Herrero, Álvaro, editor, and Fosci, Paolo, editor
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- 2025
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3. Validating by Deep Learning an Efficient Method for Genomic Sequence Analysis: Genomic Spectrograms.
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Ana Guerrero-Tamayo, Borja Sanz-Urquijo, Concepción Casado, María-Dolores Moragues Tosantos, Isabel Olivares, and Iker Pastor-López
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- 2023
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4. Validating by Deep Learning an Efficient Method for Genomic Sequence Analysis: Genomic Spectrograms
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Guerrero-Tamayo, Ana, Urquijo, Borja Sanz, Casado, Concepción, Tosantos, María-Dolores Moragues, Olivares, Isabel, Pastor-López, Iker, Goos, Gerhard, Founding Editor, Hartmanis, Juris, Founding Editor, Bertino, Elisa, Editorial Board Member, Gao, Wen, Editorial Board Member, Steffen, Bernhard, Editorial Board Member, Yung, Moti, Editorial Board Member, García Bringas, Pablo, editor, Pérez García, Hilde, editor, Martínez de Pisón, Francisco Javier, editor, Martínez Álvarez, Francisco, editor, Troncoso Lora, Alicia, editor, Herrero, Álvaro, editor, Calvo Rolle, José Luis, editor, Quintián, Héctor, editor, and Corchado, Emilio, editor
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- 2023
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5. Classification of SARS-CoV-2 sequences as recombinants via a pre-trained CNN and identification of a mathematical signature relative to recombinant feature at Spike, via interpretability
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Ana Guerrero-Tamayo, Borja Sanz Urquijo, Isabel Olivares, María-Dolores Moragues Tosantos, Concepción Casado, and Iker Pastor-López
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Medicine ,Science - Published
- 2024
6. Discovering Mathematical Patterns Behind HIV-1 Genetic Recombination: A New Methodology to Identify Viral Features.
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Ana Guerrero-Tamayo, Borja Sanz-Urquijo, Concepción Casado, María-Dolores Moragues Tosantos, Isabel Olivares, and Iker Pastor-López
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- 2023
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7. Molecular Identification of Fungal Species through Multiplex-qPCR to Determine Candidal Vulvovaginitis and Antifungal Susceptibility
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Inés Arrieta-Aguirre, Pilar Menéndez-Manjón, Giulia Carrano, Ander Diez, Íñigo Fernandez-de-Larrinoa, and María-Dolores Moragues
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vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) ,qPCR ,Candida species ,antifungal susceptibility ,resistance-related mutations ,Biology (General) ,QH301-705.5 - Abstract
Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is a prevalent condition affecting women worldwide. This study aimed to develop a rapid qPCR assay for the accurate identification of VVC etiological agents and reduced azole susceptibility. One hundred and twenty nine vaginal samples from an outpatient clinic (Bilbao, Spain) were analyzed using culture-based methods and a multiplex qPCR targeting fungal species, which identified Candida albicans as the predominant species (94.2%). Antifungal susceptibility tests revealed reduced azole susceptibility in three (3.48%) isolates. Molecular analysis identified several mutations in genes associated with azole resistance as well as novel mutations in TAC1 and MRR1 genes. In conclusion, we developed a rapid multiplex qPCR assay that detects C. albicans in vulvovaginal specimens and reported new mutations in resistance-related genes that could contribute to azole resistance.
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- 2023
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8. Low sensitivity of conventional fungal agars in fungemia by Rhodotorula mucilaginosa: description of two cases
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Carmen Alicia Garcia-Gutiérrez, María Soledad Cuétara-García, María Dolores Moragues, Jorge Ligero, Sara María Quevedo, and María José Buitrago
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Rhodotorula mucilaginosa ,Fungemia ,Specific culture media ,Risk factors ,Therapeutics. Pharmacology ,RM1-950 ,Infectious and parasitic diseases ,RC109-216 ,Microbiology ,QR1-502 - Abstract
Abstract Background Although most bloodstream yeast infections are caused by Candida spp., infections by rare or less common species have increased in recent years. Diagnosis of infections caused by these species is difficult due to the lack of specific symptoms and adequate diagnostic tools. Cases presentation We describe two cases of fungemia by Rhodotorula mucilaginosa within a few months of each other, in a secondary Spanish hospital. In both cases, diagnosis was challenging. Blood subcultures in conventional fungal media were persistently negatives and the use of non-conventional fungal media was essential for isolating the yeasts and achieving a correct diagnosis. 1–3 beta-d-glucan detection and a panfungal PCR assay were helpful techniques to confirm the diagnosis Conclusion It is highly important to establish an early diagnosis for fungemia. The process is challenging because often non-specific symptoms are presents. When yeasts grow in blood cultures other genera than Candida spp. could be the cause of infection. Patient risk factors should be assessed to incorporate alternative culture media and the available rapid diagnostic test, in order to provide an early recognition of the pathogen.
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- 2021
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9. Discovering Mathematical Patterns Behind HIV-1 Genetic Recombination: A New Methodology to Identify Viral Features
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Guerrero-Tamayo, Ana, primary, Urquijo, Borja Sanz, additional, Casado, Concepción, additional, Tosantos, María-Dolores Moragues, additional, Olivares, Isabel, additional, and Pastor-López, Iker, additional
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- 2023
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10. Low Sensitivity of Conventional Fungal Agars in Fungemia by Rhodotorula Mucilaginosa: Description of Two Cases
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María Dolores Moragues, Sara María Quevedo, Jorge Ligero, Carmen Alicia Garcia-Gutiérrez, María José Buitrago, María Soledad Cuétara-García, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Basque Government (España), Instituto de Salud Carlos III - ISCIII, and Gobierno Vasco
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Male ,Microbiological Techniques ,Microbiology (medical) ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Antifungal Agents ,Antigens, Fungal ,specific culture media ,lcsh:QR1-502 ,Case Report ,Drug resistance ,lcsh:Microbiology ,Rhodotorula mucilaginosa ,lcsh:Infectious and parasitic diseases ,Microbiology ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Medical microbiology ,Humans ,Medicine ,rhodotorula mucilaginosa ,risk factors ,lcsh:RC109-216 ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Pathogen ,Fungemia ,Aged, 80 and over ,0303 health sciences ,Rapid diagnostic test ,fungemia ,030306 microbiology ,business.industry ,lcsh:RM1-950 ,Fungi ,Rhodotorula ,General Medicine ,Middle Aged ,medicine.disease ,Culture Media ,lcsh:Therapeutics. Pharmacology ,Infectious Diseases ,Mycoses ,Parasitology ,Blood Culture ,Candida spp ,business - Abstract
Background Although most bloodstream yeast infections are caused by Candida spp., infections by rare or less common species have increased in recent years. Diagnosis of infections caused by these species is difficult due to the lack of specific symptoms and adequate diagnostic tools. Cases presentation We describe two cases of fungemia by Rhodotorula mucilaginosa within a few months of each other, in a secondary Spanish hospital. In both cases, diagnosis was challenging. Blood subcultures in conventional fungal media were persistently negatives and the use of non-conventional fungal media was essential for isolating the yeasts and achieving a correct diagnosis. 1–3 beta-d-glucan detection and a panfungal PCR assay were helpful techniques to confirm the diagnosis Conclusion It is highly important to establish an early diagnosis for fungemia. The process is challenging because often non-specific symptoms are presents. When yeasts grow in blood cultures other genera than Candida spp. could be the cause of infection. Patient risk factors should be assessed to incorporate alternative culture media and the available rapid diagnostic test, in order to provide an early recognition of the pathogen.
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- 2021
11. Antibacterial and Antifungal Activity of the Human Endometrial Fluid during the Natural Cycle
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Lucía Lainz, Antonia Expósito, Roberto Matorras, Miren Diez-Zapirain, Felix Elortza, María-Dolores Moragues, Mikel Azkargorta, Inés Arrieta-Aguirre, Marta Bregón-Villahoz, Maria Iglesias, Ana Matorras, and Maria-Begoña Prieto
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Antifungal ,Staphylococcus aureus ,Antifungal Agents ,Article Subject ,medicine.drug_class ,Natural cycle ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Library science ,Enfermedad transmisible ,Infectious and parasitic diseases ,RC109-216 ,Microbial Sensitivity Tests ,Dermatology ,Pichia ,Anti-Infective Agents ,Excellence ,Escherichia coli ,medicine ,Humans ,media_common ,Service (business) ,business.industry ,Endometrio ,Obstetrics and Gynecology ,food and beverages ,Gynecology and obstetrics ,Anti-Bacterial Agents ,Ginecología ,Infectious Diseases ,RG1-991 ,Female ,business ,Research Article - Abstract
[EN] Purpose. Some microbiota patterns have been associated with favorable IVF prognosis and others with pathological conditions. The endometrial fluid aspirate (EFA) contains antibacterial proteins that are enriched in implantative IVF cycles, but the antimicrobial effect of EFA has not been addressed. We aimed to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of the human endometrial fluid during the natural cycle. Methods. EFA was obtained through an embryo transfer catheter in 38 women, aged 18-40 years, with regular cycles attending to a fertility clinic. The antimicrobial activity of EFAs was tested against two strains of Staphylococcus aureus; one strain each of Streptococcus agalactiae, Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli, and Klebsiella pneumoniae; and three yeasts (Candida albicans, Candida glabrata, and Candida krusei). Results. All samples exhibited antibacterial activity against S. aureus. In addition, 32.4% of EFAs were active against one of the other microorganisms assayed, 16.2% against two, and 5.4% against four of them. In contrast, none exhibited antibacterial activity against E. coli or K. pneumoniae. The antimicrobial activity differs considerably between EFA samples, and we failed to observe a cycle-related pattern. Conclusions. EFA presented two antimicrobial activity patterns: (a) one common to all the samples, exhibiting activity against S. aureus and lack of activity against E. coli and K. pneumoniae, and (b) an individualized pattern, showing activity against some of the other microorganisms tested. The intensity of antibacterial activity differs between EFA samples. Our data suggest that the uterine microbiota is controlled by means of endometrial fluid components. This study was partially supported by a Grant for Fertility Innovation (GFI, 2011) from Merck, Darmstadt, Germany. M. Bregón-Villahoz is recipient of a predoctoral grant from the Universidad del País Vasco-Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU) (PIF19/316). The authors thank the technical and human support provided by DNA Bank Service (SGIker) of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and European funding (ERDF and ESF). CIC bioGUNE is accredited with the Severo Ochoa Excellence award by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, MINECO (SEV-2016-0644).
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- 2021
12. Biomarkers for the diagnosis of invasive candidiasis in immunocompetent and immunocompromised patients
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Iñigo Fernandez-de-Larrinoa, Juan Carlos García-Ruiz, María-Soledad Cuétara, Marta Bregón-Villahoz, Giulia Carrano, Ander Díez, and María-Dolores Moragues
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Microbiology (medical) ,medicine.medical_specialty ,diagnosis ,Als3 ,Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ,Hwp1 ,Gastroenterology ,Fungal Proteins ,Immunocompromised Host ,CAGTA ,Internal medicine ,Candida albicans ,Humans ,Medicine ,Candidiasis, Invasive ,Blood culture ,In patient ,Prospective Studies ,Antibodies, Fungal ,biology ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,business.industry ,General Medicine ,Invasive candidiasis ,medicine.disease ,biology.organism_classification ,Corpus albicans ,Discontinuation ,Infectious Diseases ,Met6 ,biology.protein ,Biomarker (medicine) ,Antibody ,business ,Biomarkers - Abstract
Blood culture methods show low sensitivity, so reliable non-culture diagnostic tests are needed to help clinicians with the introduction, de-escalation, and discontinuation of antifungal therapy in patients with suspected invasive candidiasis (IC). We evaluated different biomarkers for the diagnosis of IC in immunocompetent and immunocompromised patients at risk for developing invasive fungal diseases. The specificity of Candida albicans germ-tube antibodies (CAGTA) detection was high (89%-100%), but sensitivity did not exceed 61% even after raising the cut-off from 1/160 to 1/80. We developed enzyme-linked immunoassays detecting antibodies against C. albicans proteins (Als3-N, Hwp1-N, or Met6) that resulted more sensitive (66%-92%) but less specific than CAGTA assay. The combination of 1,3-beta-D-glucan (BDG) detection and CAGTA results provided the highest diagnostic usefulness in immunocompetent patients. However, in immunocompromised patients, anti-Met6 antibodies was the best biomarker, both, alone or in combination with BDG This work was supported by the Basque Government (Groups of Research IT913-16; GIC15/103). Marta Bregón-Villahoz received a grant from the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU (PIF19/316).
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- 2021
13. Antibody complementarity-determining regions (CDRs) can display differential antimicrobial, antiviral and antitumor activities.
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Luciano Polonelli, José Pontón, Natalia Elguezabal, María Dolores Moragues, Claudio Casoli, Elisabetta Pilotti, Paola Ronzi, Andrey S Dobroff, Elaine G Rodrigues, Maria A Juliano, Domenico Leonardo Maffei, Walter Magliani, Stefania Conti, and Luiz R Travassos
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Medicine ,Science - Abstract
BACKGROUND: Complementarity-determining regions (CDRs) are immunoglobulin (Ig) hypervariable domains that determine specific antibody (Ab) binding. We have shown that synthetic CDR-related peptides and many decapeptides spanning the variable region of a recombinant yeast killer toxin-like antiidiotypic Ab are candidacidal in vitro. An alanine-substituted decapeptide from the variable region of this Ab displayed increased cytotoxicity in vitro and/or therapeutic effects in vivo against various bacteria, fungi, protozoa and viruses. The possibility that isolated CDRs, represented by short synthetic peptides, may display antimicrobial, antiviral and antitumor activities irrespective of Ab specificity for a given antigen is addressed here. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: CDR-based synthetic peptides of murine and human monoclonal Abs directed to: a) a protein epitope of Candida albicans cell wall stress mannoprotein; b) a synthetic peptide containing well-characterized B-cell and T-cell epitopes; c) a carbohydrate blood group A substance, showed differential inhibitory activities in vitro, ex vivo and/or in vivo against C. albicans, HIV-1 and B16F10-Nex2 melanoma cells, conceivably involving different mechanisms of action. Antitumor activities involved peptide-induced caspase-dependent apoptosis. Engineered peptides, obtained by alanine substitution of Ig CDR sequences, and used as surrogates of natural point mutations, showed further differential increased/unaltered/decreased antimicrobial, antiviral and/or antitumor activities. The inhibitory effects observed were largely independent of the specificity of the native Ab and involved chiefly germline encoded CDR1 and CDR2 of light and heavy chains. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The high frequency of bioactive peptides based on CDRs suggests that Ig molecules are sources of an unlimited number of sequences potentially active against infectious agents and tumor cells. The easy production and low cost of small sized synthetic peptides representing Ig CDRs and the possibility of peptide engineering and chemical optimization associated to new delivery mechanisms are expected to give rise to a new generation of therapeutic agents.
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- 2008
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14. Use of Recombinant Antigens for the Diagnosis of Invasive Candidiasis
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Ana Laín, Natalia Elguezabal, Elena Amutio, Iñigo Fernández de Larrinoa, María Dolores Moragues, and José Pontón
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Immunologic diseases. Allergy ,RC581-607 - Abstract
Invasive candidiasis is a frequent and often fatal complication in immunocompromised and critically ill patients. Unfortunately, the diagnosis of invasive candidiasis remains difficult due to the lack of specific clinical symptoms and a definitive diagnostic method. The detection of antibodies against different Candida antigens may help in the diagnosis. However, the methods traditionally used for the detection of antibodies have been based on crude antigenic fungal extracts, which usually show low-reproducibility and cross-reactivity problems. The development of molecular biology techniques has allowed the production of recombinant antigens which may help to solve these problems. In this review we will discuss the usefulness of recombinant antigens in the diagnosis of invasive candidiasis.
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- 2008
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15. Anti-Candida albicans germ tube antibodies reduce in vitro growth and biofilm formation of C. albicans
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Giulia Carrano, Simona Paulone, Elisabetta Blasi, María-Jesús Sevilla, María-Dolores Moragues, and Lucía Lainz
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Colony-forming unit ,0303 health sciences ,Antibodies ,Biofilm ,CAGTA ,Candida albicans ,Fungicidal activity ,Invasive candidiasis ,Microbiology ,Infectious Diseases ,biology ,030306 microbiology ,Chemistry ,Germ tube ,Mycology ,Cell morphology ,biology.organism_classification ,In vitro ,Corpus albicans ,03 medical and health sciences ,Antigen ,Biofilms ,Fungal Structures ,Antibodies, Fungal - Abstract
Background Invasive candidiasis by Candida albicans is associated with high morbidity and mortality, due in part to the late implementation of an appropriate antifungal therapy hindered by the lack of an early diagnosis. Aims We aimed to evaluate the in vitro antifungal activity of the antibodies against C. albicans germ tubes (CAGTA) raised in a rabbit model of candidemia. Methods We measured the effect of CAGTA activity by colorimetric XTT and crystal violet assays, and colony forming units count, both on C. albicans planktonic cells and during the course of biofilm formation and maturation. Viability and cell morphology were assessed by optical, fluorescent or scanning electron microscopy. Results CAGTA ≥50 μg/ml caused a strong inhibition of C. albicans blastospores growth, and DiBAC fluorescent staining evidenced a fungicidal activity. Moreover, electron microscopy images revealed that CAGTA induced morphological alterations of the surface of C. albicans germ tubes grown free as well as in biofilm. Interestingly, CAGTA ≥80 μg/ml reduced the amount of C. albicans biofilm, and this effect started at the initial adhesion stage of the biofilm formation, during the first 90 min. Conclusions This is the first report showing that CAGTA reduce C. albicans growth, and impair its metabolic activity and ability to form biofilm in vitro. The antigens recognized by CAGTA could be the basis for the development of immunization protocols that might protect against Candida infections.
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- 2019
16. Neurological presentations of COVID-19: Findings from the Spanish Society of Neurology neuroCOVID-19 registry
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David García-Azorín, María José Abenza Abildúa, María Elena Erro Aguirre, Santiago Fernández Fernández, Juan Carlos García Moncó, Cristina Guijarro-Castro, Montserrat González Platas, Fernando Romero Delgado, José Miguel Láinez Andrés, David Ezpeleta, Alejandra Collía Fernández, Alejandro Horga, Ana Barragán Prieto, Ana del Villar Igea, Ana Urbanos Núñez, Ángel Aledo Serrano, Araceli García, Beatriz Martínez Menéndez, Bernat Bertran Recasens, Blanca Serrano Serrano, Blanca Talavera de la Esperanza, Carlos Pablo de Fuenmayor Fernández de la Hoz, Carlos Tejero Juste, Carmen Valderrama Martín, Cristina Fernández García, Marta Ochoa, Cristina Íñiguez, Daniel Macías García, David A. Pérez Martínez, Débora Mª. Cerdán Santacruz, Misericòrdia Floriach Robert, Elisabet Franquet Gomez, Elsa Puiggròs, Eric Freire Álvarez, Esteban Peña Llamas, Estibaliz Villareal, Eva Fernández Díaz, Fernando Morejón Burguillos, Garazi Agirre Beitia, Gerardo Gutiérrez-Gutiérrez, Guilherme Carvalho Monteiro, Guillermo Cervera Ygual, Guillermo Hernández, Guillermo Rubio, Hortenia Alonso, Iago Payo Froiz, Iago Rego García, Inmaculada Redondo Peñas, Javier R. Pérez Sánchez, Javier Tejada García, Javier Villacieros Álvarez, Jéssica Fernández Domínguez, Jesús Porta Etessam, Jon Equiza, Jorge Millán Pascual, José Antonio Oliván Usieto, José Antonio Reyes, José Balseiro Gómez, José Carlos Roche Bueno, Jose Luis Camacho Velasquez, José María Barrios López, Leire Ainz Raquel Lamas, Lidia Binela Lara Lezama, Lorena Caballero, Lucía Galan Davila, Nuria González, Luis Alberto Rodríguez de Antonio, Mª. Araceli García Torres, Maite Martinez Zabaleta, Manuel Medina Rodríguez, María Dolores Moragues, María Fuensanta Valero García, María Hernández, María Rabasa, María Rico Santos, María Usero, Martín Zurdo, Miguel Más, Miren Maneiro, null Muriana, Noelia González Nafría, Oriol Barrachina Esteve, Pablo del Saz Saucedo, null Rocío, Rosa M. Vilar Ventura, Saida Atienza, Sandra Rodríguez Navas, Sergio Borja, Silvia Gil Navarro, Solange Kapetanovic García, Susana García, Teresa Mateos Salas, Toni Palasí, and Victoriano Romero Cantero
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Male ,myalgia ,Pediatrics ,Neurology ,Comorbidity ,Disease ,CSF, cerebrospinal fluid ,SEN, Spanish Society of Neurology ,Epilepsy ,COVID-19 Testing ,PCR, polymerase chain reaction ,0302 clinical medicine ,Registries ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Stroke ,ARB, angiotensin receptor blockers ,COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019 ,Neurologic Examination ,Virulence ,LDH, lactate dehydrogenase ,Mental Disorders ,Headache ,Neuromuscular Diseases ,Middle Aged ,ICU, intensive care unit ,CT, computed tomography ,Causality ,Treatment Outcome ,Cerebrospinal fluid ,Cardiovascular Diseases ,Female ,medicine.symptom ,Adult ,medicine.medical_specialty ,ACE, angiotensin-converting enzyme ,Anosmia ,Clinical Neurology ,Neuroimaging ,IQR, inter-quartile range ,SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 ,Article ,NSAIDS, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs ,03 medical and health sciences ,Altered Mental Status ,Headache disorders ,Diabetes Mellitus ,medicine ,Humans ,ENG, electroneurography ,ARDS, acute respiratory distress syndrome ,Aged ,SARS-CoV-2 ,business.industry ,COVID-19 ,Delirium ,Myalgia ,medicine.disease ,Spain ,EEG, clectroencephalography ,Neurology (clinical) ,Nervous System Diseases ,SD, standard deviation ,business ,MRI, magnetic resonance imaging ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
Objective We report the findings from the Spanish Society of Neurology's NeuroCOVID-19 Registry. Methods We performed a multicentre study of patients with neurological manifestations of COVID-19. Participating physicians reported demographic, clinical, and paraclinical data and judged the involvement of COVID-19 in causing neurological symptoms. Results A total of 233 cases were submitted, including 74 different combinations of manifestations. The most frequently reported were stroke (27%), neuromuscular symptoms (23.6%), altered mental status (23.6%), anosmia (17.6%), headache (12.9%), and seizures (11.6%). The mean age of patients was 61.1 years, with 42.1% being women; a higher proportion of women was recorded among patients with altered mental status, anosmia, and headache. The onset of symptoms differed within categories. Onset of anosmia occurred a mean (standard deviation) of 2.9 (2.5) days after the first general symptom, whereas neuromuscular symptoms appeared after 13.9 (10.1) days. Neurological symptoms were persistent in 33% of patients. General symptoms were present in 97.7% of patients, and results from general laboratory studies were abnormal in 99.4% of patients. Cerebrospinal fluid analysis findings were abnormal in 62.7% of the cases in which this test was performed (n = 51), but positive results for SARS-CoV-2 were only found in one case. Conclusions The neurological manifestations of COVID-19 are diverse. Anosmia, myalgia, and headache occur earlier in the course of the disease. Altered mental status, neuromuscular symptoms, and stroke are associated with greater severity. COVID-19 must be incorporated into most clinical and radiological differential diagnoses. COVID-19 may cause persistent and disabling neurological symptoms., Highlights • NeuroCovid-19 is polymorph: Authors reported >70 different combinations of neurological syndromic presentations. • The timing of the neurological symptoms differ: from the early onset (anosmia, headache, myalgia) to later stages (altered mental status, seizures, stroke, neuromuscular symptoms). • Some neurological symptoms might persist, as headache or anosmia; while other may cause persistent disability, as stroke or polyneuropathies. • Cerebrospinal fluid was frequently abnormal but direct isolation of SARS-CoV-2 occurred only in 1/233 cases. • Neurologists must be prepared to face the various neurological syndromes that may be associated with Covid-19 infection.
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- 2021
17. In-depth proteomics and natural peptidomics analyses reveal antibacterial peptides in human endometrial fluid
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Aintzane Rabanal, Iraide Escobes, Begoña Prieto, Felix Elortza, Roberto Matorras, Ibon Iloro, Marta Bregón-Villahoz, Maria Iglesias, Mikel Azkargorta, Miren Diez-Zapirain, Jone Ibañez-Perez, and María-Dolores Moragues
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Proteomics ,0301 basic medicine ,Antimicrobial peptides ,Biophysics ,Peptide ,Biology ,Endometrium ,Biochemistry ,03 medical and health sciences ,Anti-Infective Agents ,medicine ,Humans ,chemistry.chemical_classification ,030102 biochemistry & molecular biology ,Embryo culture ,Anti-Bacterial Agents ,030104 developmental biology ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,chemistry ,Proteome ,Female ,Peptides ,Elafin ,Function (biology) - Abstract
The composition of endometrial fluid reflects the status of the endometrium; it is a good atraumatic source of information on embryo implantation processes and possible pathological conditions. Although some attempts have been made to characterise its proteome, the catalogue of its proteins remains incomplete and little has been done to analyse the natural peptides it contains. Here, we present a comprehensive analysis of the proteins and natural peptides of the endometrial fluid. The protein content of samples from 11 individuals was analysed using the novel timsTOF Pro mass spectrometer. We identified 4694 proteins with at least one peptide with FDR 1%, of which 2261 were found in50% of the samples. A pooled endometrial fluid sample was used for isolation and analysis of the natural peptides. Mass spectrometry analysis identified 3899 naturally occurring peptides from 238 different proteins. Among these, there were some putative natural antibacterial peptides. Antimicrobial activity of peptides derived from elafin and Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase was confirmed using microbiological assays. Our results substantially expand the catalogue of known endometrial fluid proteins and provide extensive new information on the natural peptide content of this fluid. SIGNIFICANCE: The endometrial fluid contains many proteins whose clinical relevance is still unknown. Some might be merely markers of endometrial function, but others might play a role in embryo nutrition and/or implantation. Human endometrial fluid analysis might open the door to new developments in embryo transfer strategies in in-vitro fertilisation programmes and lead to improvements in the composition of embryo culture media. Here, we report, for the first time, antimicrobial activity of endometrial fluid peptides. Such peptides could play an important role in the balance of the recently described uterine microbiota.
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- 2020
18. Sequencing of FKS Hot Spot 1 from Saprochaete capitata To Search for a Relationship to Reduced Echinocandin Susceptibility
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María Soledad Cuétara, Pilar Menéndez-Manjón, María Dolores Moragues, Iñigo Fernández de Larrinoa, Inés Arrieta-Aguirre, and Juan Carlos García-Ruiz
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0301 basic medicine ,Pharmacology ,Genetics ,Echinocandin ,ATP synthase ,Protein subunit ,030106 microbiology ,Nucleic acid sequence ,Hot spot (veterinary medicine) ,Biology ,03 medical and health sciences ,030104 developmental biology ,Infectious Diseases ,Capitata ,medicine ,biology.protein ,Pharmacology (medical) ,Echinocandins ,Gene ,medicine.drug - Abstract
Saprochaete capitata , formerly known as Geotrichum capitatum , is an emerging fungal pathogen with low susceptibility to echinocandins. Here, we report the nucleotide sequence of the S. capitata hot spot 1 region of the FKS gene ( FKS HS1), which codifies for the catalytic subunit of β-1,3- d -glucan synthase, the target of echinocandins. For that purpose, we first designed degenerated oligonucleotide primers derived from conserved flanking regions of the FKS1 HS1 segment of 12 different fungal species. Interestingly, analysis of the translated FKS HS1 sequences of 12 isolates of S. capitata revealed that all of them exhibited the same F-to-L substitution in a position that is highly related to reduced echinocandin susceptibility.
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- 2018
19. Identification and characterization of nine atypical Candida dubliniensis clinical isolates
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Olatz Albaina, Ismail H. Sahand, Iñigo Fernández de Larrinoa, María Isabel Brusca, María Dolores Moragues, and Derek J. Sullivan
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Microbiology (medical) ,Molecular Sequence Data ,Germ tube ,Polymerase Chain Reaction ,Microbiology ,DNA sequencing ,law.invention ,Chlamydospore ,law ,Humans ,DNA, Fungal ,Mycological Typing Techniques ,Candida albicans ,Antibodies, Fungal ,Polymerase chain reaction ,Candida ,biology ,Candidiasis ,Fungal genetics ,Antibodies, Monoclonal ,Sequence Analysis, DNA ,General Medicine ,biology.organism_classification ,Latex fixation test ,Molecular Typing ,Latex Fixation Tests ,Candida dubliniensis - Abstract
Candida dubliniensis is a pathogenic yeast of the genus Candida closely related to Candida albicans. The phenotypic similarity of these two species often leads to misidentification of C. dubliniensis isolates in clinical samples. DNA-based methods continue to be the most effective means of discriminating accurately between the two species. Here, we report on the identification of nine unusual Candida isolates that showed ambiguous identification patterns on the basis of their phenotypic and immunological traits. The isolates were categorized into two groups. Group I isolates were unable to produce germ tubes and chlamydospores, and to agglutinate commercial latex particles coated with a mAb highly specific for C. dubliniensis. Group II isolates grew as pink and white colonies on CHROMagar Candida and ChromID Candida, respectively. Carbohydrate assimilation profiles obtained with API/ID32C together with PCR amplification with specific primers and DNA sequencing allowed reliable identification of the nine unusual clinical isolates as C. dubliniensis.
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- 2015
20. Molecular Identification of Saprochaete capitata in Human Blood and Paraffinized Tissue Samples
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L. López-Soria, M. S. Cuétara, María Dolores Moragues, Inés Arrieta-Aguirre, P. Menéndez-Manjón, and Juan Carlos García-Ruiz
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0301 basic medicine ,Microbiology (medical) ,030106 microbiology ,Biology ,invasive fungal infection ,Polymerase Chain Reaction ,Sensitivity and Specificity ,law.invention ,Microbiology ,molecular diagnostics ,03 medical and health sciences ,law ,Mycology ,molecular diagnosis ,DNA, Ribosomal Spacer ,RNA, Ribosomal, 18S ,Humans ,DNA, Fungal ,Letter to the Editor ,Polymerase chain reaction ,Molecular identification ,Aspergillus species ,Saprochaete capitata ,spiked blood ,Paraffin Embedding ,Human blood ,Fungal genetics ,Sequence Analysis, DNA ,RNA, Ribosomal, 5.8S ,PCR ,Mycoses ,Saccharomycetales ,mycology ,Magnusiomyces capitatus ,paraffin-embedded tissue - Abstract
Invasive fungal infections (IFIs) caused by Candida and Aspergillus species are the most prevalent fungal infections in hospitals; however, those caused by rare fungal species have become increasingly common in recent years. Saprochaete capitata (anamorph; Magnusiomyces capitatus teleomorph)
- Published
- 2017
21. Sequencing of
- Author
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Inés, Arrieta-Aguirre, Pilar, Menéndez-Manjón, María Soledad, Cuétara, Iñigo, Fernández de Larrinoa, Juan Carlos, García-Ruiz, and María Dolores, Moragues
- Subjects
Antifungal Agents ,Base Sequence ,Geotrichosis ,Microbial Sensitivity Tests ,Sequence Analysis, DNA ,Geotrichum ,Fungal Proteins ,Echinocandins ,Protein Subunits ,Amino Acid Substitution ,Drug Resistance, Fungal ,Glucosyltransferases ,Mechanisms of Resistance ,Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal ,Humans ,DNA, Fungal - Abstract
Saprochaete capitata, formerly known as Geotrichum capitatum, is an emerging fungal pathogen with low susceptibility to echinocandins. Here, we report the nucleotide sequence of the S. capitata hot spot 1 region of the FKS gene (FKS HS1), which codifies for the catalytic subunit of β-1,3-d-glucan synthase, the target of echinocandins. For that purpose, we first designed degenerated oligonucleotide primers derived from conserved flanking regions of the FKS1 HS1 segment of 12 different fungal species. Interestingly, analysis of the translated FKS HS1 sequences of 12 isolates of S. capitata revealed that all of them exhibited the same F-to-L substitution in a position that is highly related to reduced echinocandin susceptibility.
- Published
- 2017
22. Invasive infections caused by Saprochaete capitata in patients with haematological malignancies: Report of five cases and review of the antifungal therapy
- Author
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José Pontón, Juan Carlos García-Ruiz, Leyre López-Soria, Verónica Velasco-Benito, Inés Arrieta-Aguirre, María-Dolores Moragues, Iñigo Olazábal, and Elena Amutio
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,Antifungal ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Antifungal Agents ,medicine.drug_class ,Opportunistic Infections ,Biology ,Microbiology ,Dipodascus ,Immunocompromised Host ,Fatal Outcome ,Drug Resistance, Fungal ,Internal medicine ,Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols ,medicine ,Humans ,In patient ,Intensive care medicine ,Aged ,Febrile Neutropenia ,Cross Infection ,Leukemia ,Hematology ,Saprochaete capitata ,Middle Aged ,Burkitt Lymphoma ,Infectious Diseases ,Catheter-Related Infections ,Blastoschizomyces capitatus ,Capitata ,Drug Therapy, Combination ,Female ,Fungemia ,Echinocandins ,Fluconazole ,medicine.drug - Abstract
Background Saprochaete capitata (formerly known as Geotrichum capitatum and Blastoschizomyces capitatus) is a ubiquitous fungus found in soil, water, air, plants and dairy products. It colonizes the skin, and bronchial and intestinal tract of healthy people producing serious opportunistic infections in patients with haematological malignancies, especially in those with acute leukaemia. Since 1960s its presence is being increasingly recognized in this group of patients. The clinical spectrum of S. capitata disseminated infections is very similar to that produced by Candida, being easily misinterpreted. The associated high mortality and low susceptibility to fluconazole and echinocandins of S. capitata require the acknowledgement of this emergent infection so that it can be properly treated. Case report We report 5 new cases of S. capitata disseminated infection in patients with advanced haematological malignancies observed in the haematology unit between the years 2004 and 2010, and review the state-of-the-art for diagnosis and treatment of this infection. Conclusions Based on our experience, the prophylactic use of or the empirical antifungal treatment with fluconazole and/or echinocandins would not be adequate for oncohaematological patients in those hospitals where S. capitata infection may be highly prevalent.
- Published
- 2013
23. Prospective study in critically ill non-neutropenic patients: diagnostic potential of (1,3)-β-D-glucan assay and circulating galactomannan for the diagnosis of invasive fungal disease
- Author
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Mercedes Catalán, Juan Carlos Montejo, M. A. Finkelman, José Pontón, Joshi Acosta, A. del Palacio-Peréz-Medel, María-Dolores Moragues, A. del Palacio, and J. De-La-Cruz-Bértolo
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,Microbiology (medical) ,medicine.medical_specialty ,beta-Glucans ,Critical Illness ,Neutropenia ,Aspergillosis ,Gastroenterology ,Mannans ,Galactomannan ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Sepsis ,Intensive care ,Internal medicine ,medicine ,Humans ,Blood culture ,Prospective Studies ,Prospective cohort study ,Aged ,Aged, 80 and over ,Leukopenia ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,business.industry ,Galactose ,General Medicine ,Middle Aged ,medicine.disease ,Surgery ,Infectious Diseases ,Mycoses ,ROC Curve ,chemistry ,Female ,Proteoglycans ,Zygomycosis ,medicine.symptom ,business - Abstract
Diagnosis of invasive fungal disease (IFD) in patients under intensive care is challenging. Circulating biomarkers, (1,3)-β-D-glucan (BG) and galactomannan (GM), were prospectively assessed in 98 critically ill patients at risk of IFD. There were 11 cases of invasive aspergillosis (IA; 4 proven and 7 probable), 9 cases of proven invasive candidiasis (IC), 1 case of mixed proven IC and probable IA, 1 case of proven zygomycosis, and 1 case of mixed mycelial proven IFD. In all IA cases there was no significant difference when the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of GM (0.873 [95%CI, 0.75-0.99]) and BG (0.856 [95% CI, 0.71-0.99]) were compared (p = 0.871). The AUC for BG in IC and for the rest of the IFD cases was 0.605 (95% CI, 0.39-0.82) and 0.768 (95% CI, 0.63-0.90) respectively. Positive BG (40%) predated blood culture (n = 3) and abdominal pus (n = 1) a mean of 3.25 days before Candida was grown. In patients with IFD caused by molds, BG appeared a mean of 5.65 days before culture results. For the diagnosis of patients at risk of IC, BG has shown a high NPV (94.5%), with positive results also predating blood cultures in 30% of patients. In conclusion, early BG results permit a timely initiation of antifungal therapy in patients at risk of IFD.
- Published
- 2011
24. Fungicidal Monoclonal Antibody C7 Interferes with Iron Acquisition in Candida albicans
- Author
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Jonathan Cabezas-Olcoz, José Pontón, Guillermo Quindós, Iñigo Fernández de Larrinoa, María Dolores Moragues, Sonia Brena, and Angel Domínguez
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Antifungal Agents ,medicine.drug_class ,Iron ,Mutant ,Ferrozine ,Iron Chelating Agents ,Monoclonal antibody ,Polymerase Chain Reaction ,Microbiology ,Fungal Proteins ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Candida albicans ,Gene expression ,medicine ,Pharmacology (medical) ,Mechanisms of Action: Physiological Effects ,Antibodies, Fungal ,Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ,Pharmacology ,Fungal protein ,biology ,Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ,Gene Expression Profiling ,Antibodies, Monoclonal ,biology.organism_classification ,Molecular biology ,Corpus albicans ,Infectious Diseases ,chemistry ,Phosphopyruvate Hydratase ,biology.protein ,Antibody ,Hemin - Abstract
We have developed a monoclonal antibody (MAb), C7, that reacts with the Als3p and enolase present in the Candida albicans cell wall and exerts three anti-Candida activities: candidacidal activity and inhibition of both adhesion and filamentation. To investigate the mode of action of MAb C7 on fungal viability, we examined changes in the genome-wide gene expression profile of C. albicans grown in the presence of a subinhibitory concentration of MAb C7 (12.5 μg/ml) by using microarrays. A total of 49 genes were found to be differentially expressed upon treatment with MAb C7. Of these, 28 were found to be upregulated and 21 were found to be downregulated. The categories of upregulated genes with the largest number of variations were those involved in iron uptake or related to iron homeostasis (42.86%), while the energy-related group accounted for 38.10% of the downregulated genes (8/21). Results were validated by real-time PCR. Since these effects resembled those found under iron-limited conditions, the activity of MAb C7 on C. albicans mutants with deletions in key genes implicated in the three iron acquisition systems described in this yeast was also assessed. Only mutants lacking the TPK1 gene and, to a lesser extent, the TPK2 gene were less sensitive to the candidacidal effect of MAb C7. FeCl3 or hemin at concentrations of ≥7.8 μM reversed the candidacidal effect of MAb C7 on C. albicans in a concentration-dependent manner. The results presented in this study provide evidence that the candidacidal effect of MAb C7 is related to the blockage of the reductive iron uptake pathway of C. albicans., This project has been financed with grants IT-264-07 from the Department of Education, Universities and Research, Basque Government (to J.P. and M.D.M.), GEN2006-27775-C2-E/PAT (to A.D.), and SA 141A08 from Junta de Castilla y León (to A.D.), Spain. Sonia Brena was supported by a University of the Basque Country (Ayudas para la Formación de Personal Investigador) grant, and Jonathan Cabezas-Olcoz was supported by a Spanish Ministry of Education grant (Programa de Formación del Profesorado Universitario AP2006- 02929).
- Published
- 2011
25. The Impact of Oral Contraceptives on Women's Periodontal Health and the Subgingival Occurrence of Aggressive Periodontopathogens andCandidaSpecies
- Author
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María Dolores Moragues, Fernando Verdugo, María Isabel Brusca, Alcira C Rosa, Olatz Albaina, and José Pontón
- Subjects
Adult ,Time Factors ,Gingival and periodontal pocket ,Population ,Gingiva ,Dentistry ,Candida glabrata ,Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans ,Prevotella intermedia ,Severe periodontitis ,Contraceptives, Oral, Hormonal ,Young Adult ,Gingivitis ,Candida albicans ,Gram-Negative Bacteria ,Periodontal Attachment Loss ,medicine ,Humans ,Periodontal Pocket ,Candida tropicalis ,education ,Candida ,Periodontitis ,education.field_of_study ,biology ,business.industry ,Dental Plaque Index ,Smoking ,biology.organism_classification ,medicine.disease ,Chronic periodontitis ,Clinical attachment loss ,Case-Control Studies ,Chronic Periodontitis ,Periodontics ,Female ,Periodontal Index ,medicine.symptom ,business ,Porphyromonas gingivalis - Abstract
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the influence of oral contraceptive (OC) use on the subgingival occurrence of specific periodontopathogens and the host's periodontal status.Ninety-two females aged 19 to 40 years were included in the study. They were divided into two groups, OC users and non-users, and subgrouped according to the most severe periodontal condition and duration of OC usage. A pooled subgingival sample from each subject was cultured to investigate the presence of Candida species, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans (previously Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans), and Prevotella intermedia.OC users, particularly smokers, show a statistically significant increase in the prevalence of severe periodontitis. OC users had deeper probing depths (or=5 mm) than non-users. Moreover, OC users had higher gingival index scores and clinical attachment loss,or=2 andor=5 mm, respectively, than non-users (P0.01). Patients taking OCs had significantly higher numbers of cultures positive for Candida. Seven Candida species were isolated. Subgingival Candida was associated with P. gingivalis and P. intermedia in 82.9% and 85.4%, respectively, in patients taking OCs. A. actinomycetemcomitans was isolated in patients with moderate and severe periodontitis and was associated with subgingival P. gingivalis, P. intermedia, and Candida.OC use may increase the risk of severe periodontitis and seems to cause a selection of certain Candida species in periodontal pockets. OC users showed a higher prevalence of P. gingivalis, P. intermedia, and A. actinomycetemcomitans compared to non-users. C. albicans, C. parapsilosis, C. krusei, C. tropicalis, and C. glabrata were the species with the ability to survive in the conditions created by the sex hormones after 3 years.
- Published
- 2010
26. Potential of anti-Candida antibodies in immunoprophylaxis
- Author
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Olatz Albaina, José Pontón, Jonathan Cabezas, María Dolores Moragues, Dalila Montañez, and María Jesús Sevilla
- Subjects
Adult ,Antifungal Agents ,Antigens, Fungal ,medicine.drug_class ,Immunology ,Drug Evaluation, Preclinical ,Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized ,Monoclonal antibody ,Epitope ,Microbiology ,Echinocandins ,Lipopeptides ,Mice ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Bacterial Proteins ,Double-Blind Method ,Antigen ,Caspofungin ,Amphotericin B ,Candida albicans ,medicine ,Animals ,Humans ,Immunology and Allergy ,Child ,Antibodies, Fungal ,Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic ,biology ,Candidiasis ,Immunization, Passive ,Antibodies, Monoclonal ,biology.organism_classification ,Combined Modality Therapy ,Mycoses ,Oncology ,Immunization ,chemistry ,Monoclonal ,biology.protein ,Fungal Vaccines ,Antibody - Abstract
The need for new options for the treatment of invasive candidiasis has fuelled the use of antibodies in combination with conventional antifungal therapy. After a long period of time in which antibodies were considered irrelevant in the resistance against invasive candidiasis, it was demonstrated that a number of antibodies or their engineered derivatives directed against Candida albicans cell-wall polysaccharides and glycopeptides, as well as against some protein epitopes, confer protection against invasive candidiasis. This has confirmed this approach as a new strategy for the prophylaxis of invasive candidiasis. Of particular interest is Mycograb®, a human recombinant monoclonal antibody that inhibits heat shock protein 90, and has been administrated in combination with lipid-associated amphotericin B to patients with invasive candidiasis, and the fungicidal anti-β-glucan antibodies induced by the glycoconjugate vaccine composed of a β-glucan polysaccharide conjugated with the diphtheria toxoid CRM 197. However, despite the promising data obtained in vitro and in animal models, at present there is very little clinical experience on the use of antibodies in Candida immunoprophylaxis.
- Published
- 2010
27. Evaluation of CHROM-Pal medium for the isolation and direct identification of Candida dubliniensis in primary cultures from the oral cavity
- Author
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María Dolores Moragues, Jose Luis Maza, José Pontón, Ismail H. Sahand, José M. Aguirre, Guillermo Quindós, Miguel Montejo, and Elena Eraso
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,Microbiology (medical) ,Adolescent ,HIV Infections ,Candida parapsilosis ,Sensitivity and Specificity ,Microbiology ,Candida tropicalis ,Young Adult ,Candidiasis, Oral ,Candida krusei ,Candida albicans ,Humans ,Child ,Mycological Typing Techniques ,Aged ,Candida ,Aged, 80 and over ,Mouth ,AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections ,biology ,Candida glabrata ,General Medicine ,Middle Aged ,biology.organism_classification ,Corpus albicans ,Culture Media ,Candida rugosa ,Chromogenic Compounds ,Female ,Candida dubliniensis - Abstract
Candida albicans is the species most frequently isolated from oral specimens, but the recovery of other Candida species such as Candida dubliniensis is increasing. Differentiation of C. dubliniensis from C. albicans requires special tests and both species are misidentified in some studies. CHROM-Pal (CH-P) is a novel chromogenic medium used in our laboratory for differentiation between C. albicans and C. dubliniensis on the basis of colony colour and morphology, and chlamydospore production. The performance of CH-P and CHROMagar Candida (CAC) was compared for primary isolation and presumptive identification of yeasts from oral specimens from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected and uninfected individuals. The identification of Candida species on both media was compared with two reference identification methods (API ID 32 C and multiplex PCR). A total of 137/205 oral swabs (66.8 %) plated onto CH-P and CAC media were positive by culture and resulted in the growth of 171 isolates of Candida species on CH-P, whilst only 159 isolates grew on CAC. C. albicans was the most frequently isolated species in both groups of patients, followed by Candida parapsilosis in the HIV-negative group, and by C. dubliniensis in the HIV-infected group. The other Candida species isolated were Candida guilliermondii, Candida glabrata, Candida krusei, Candida tropicalis, Candida famata, Candida rugosa, Candida kefyr, Candida pelliculosa and Candida pulcherrima. The sensitivity and specificity for identifying C. albicans, C. krusei, C. tropicalis and C. dubliniensis on CH-P were over 98.5 %, always equal to or higher than those obtained when CAC was used. CH-P is a simple reliable medium for primary isolation and presumptive identification of yeast isolates from oral samples. The ability of CH-P to discriminate between C. dubliniensis and C. albicans was significantly higher (P
- Published
- 2009
28. Bone Microbial Contamination Influences Autogenous Grafting in Sinus Augmentation
- Author
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María Dolores Moragues, José Pontón, Ana Castillo, and Fernando Verdugo
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Maxillary sinus ,Dentistry ,Bone healing ,Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans ,Prevotella intermedia ,Bone and Bones ,Gram-Negative Anaerobic Straight, Curved, and Helical Rods ,Enterobacteriaceae ,Maxilla ,medicine ,Bacteroides ,Humans ,Bone Resorption ,Periodontitis ,Bone regeneration ,Sinus (anatomy) ,Aged ,Bone Transplantation ,Fusobacterium nucleatum ,biology ,Peptostreptococcus ,business.industry ,Dental Implantation, Endosseous ,Graft Survival ,Alveolar Ridge Augmentation ,Maxillary Sinus ,Middle Aged ,medicine.disease ,biology.organism_classification ,Surgery ,Radiography ,Transplantation ,Osteopenia ,Treatment Outcome ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Campylobacter rectus ,Tissue and Organ Harvesting ,Periodontics ,Female ,business ,Porphyromonas gingivalis ,Treponema denticola ,Follow-Up Studies - Abstract
The oral occurrence of putative microbial pathogens in humans has been documented in health and disease. The presence of periodontopathogens in patients with a history of periodontal disease may have a negative impact on bone regeneration. This investigation was conducted to confirm the presence of periodontal pathogens in bone particles harvested intraorally for maxillary sinus augmentation and to assess the clinical and radiographic outcomes 6 to 12 months after bone augmentation.Culture and polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based identification were performed by paper-point sampling of intraorally harvested bone particles in a group of 12 maintenance patients undergoing maxillary sinus augmentation. Radiographs were taken to assess and compare bone healing and volume gain at baseline and at 6 to 12 months after augmentation.The presence of periodontal pathogens (Porphyromonas gingivalis, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans [previously Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans], Prevotella intermedia, Tannerella forsythia [previously T. forsythensis], Fusobacterium nucleatum, Parvimonas micra [previously Peptostreptococcus micros or Micromonas micros], Campylobacter rectus, enteric Gram-negative rods, and Dialister pneumosintes) was identified in 10 of 12 patients (83%) by culture, PCR, or both and was associated with greater bone volume loss at 6 months postaugmentation. The PCR-positive triad, P. gingivalis, A. actinomycetemcomitans, and P. intermedia, was associated with pronounced volume loss of the grafted sinus at 6 months.To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to confirm osseous microbial contamination with major periodontopathogens in individuals undergoing maxillary sinus augmentation with a history of periodontitis. The effect on the grafting outcome translated into bone volume loss in the grafted sinus 6 months postaugmentation. Specific microbial contamination may have an impact on osteogenesis in osseous regeneration.
- Published
- 2009
29. Detection of (1→3)-β- <scp>d</scp> -Glucan as an Adjunct to Diagnosis in a Mixed Population with Uncommon Proven Invasive Fungal Diseases or with an Unusual Clinical Presentation
- Author
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Amalia del Palacio, José Pontón, María Dolores Moragues, Almudena Alhambra, María Soledad Cuétara, and Ernesto González-Elorza
- Subjects
Male ,Microbiology (medical) ,beta-Glucans ,Clinical Biochemistry ,Immunology ,Population ,Aspergillosis ,Dipodascus ,Microbiology ,Scedosporium ,Fusarium ,medicine ,Clinical Laboratory Immunology ,Humans ,Immunology and Allergy ,Prospective Studies ,education ,Aged ,education.field_of_study ,Aspergillus ,biology ,food and beverages ,Alternaria ,Scedosporium apiospermum ,Middle Aged ,biology.organism_classification ,medicine.disease ,Mycoses ,Child, Preschool ,Female ,Proteoglycans ,Cladosporium ,Fusarium solani - Abstract
This single-center observational prospective study evaluated the performance of (1→3)-β- d -glucan as an adjunct diagnostic tool in 12 patients with proven invasive fungal disease with different risk factors. The infections were due to either uncommon fungal pathogens such as dematiaceous molds ( Scedosporium apiospermum , Alternaria infectoria , and Cladosporium macrocarpum ) and hyaline septate molds ( Fusarium solani and Blastoschizomyces capitatus ) or Aspergillus spp. with unusual clinical presentations.
- Published
- 2009
30. Aislamiento de Aspergillus lentulus en España en un paciente crítico con enfermedad pulmonar obstructiva crónica
- Author
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José Pontón, Amalia del Palacio, Sonia Brena, María Dolores Moragues, Almudena Alhambra, Juan Carlos Montejo, and Mercedes Catalán
- Subjects
Voriconazole ,medicine.medical_specialty ,COPD ,biology ,Exacerbation ,Itraconazole ,business.industry ,biology.organism_classification ,medicine.disease ,Microbiology ,Surgery ,Aspergillus fumigatus ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Infectious Diseases ,chemistry ,Amphotericin B ,Internal medicine ,medicine ,Aspergillus lentulus ,Caspofungin ,business ,medicine.drug - Abstract
Aspergillus lentulus was first described in the year 2005, and since it cannot be phenotypically distinguished from Aspergillus fumigatus, it is conceivable that earlier descriptions (before 2005) could be attributed to this new species. Currently invasive infections caused by A. lentulus are rare and very few cases have been previously published in neutropenic patients, all of them with fatal outcome. Here we report a critically ill non neutropenic patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who was admitted to the medical intensive care unit with an exacerbation of COPD and who had been treated with long term corticosteroids. A. fumigatus was cultured from two bronchial aspirates and in a third bronchial aspirate both A. lentulus and A. fumigatus were isolated. On two consecutive days detection of galactomannan in serum was negative whilst detection of (1-3) beta-D glucan was positive (> 518 pg/ml). Minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) for itraconazole, voriconazole, caspofungin and amphotericin B were high for this strain of A. lentulus. Given the high MIC values of A. lentulus to available antifungals, the accurate identification of this new species is warranted. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the isolation of A. lentulus in a non-neutropenic critically ill patient, although we note that since it was isolated only once from respiratory specimens, its implication as an etiologic agent of infection for this patient remains to be established.
- Published
- 2008
31. Contribution of serum biomarkers to the diagnosis of invasive candidiasis
- Author
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José Pontón, Juan Carlos García-Ruiz, Ana Laín, María Dolores Moragues, Natalia Elguezabal, and Amalia del Palacio
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,Recombinant antigen ,Colony Count, Microbial ,Biology ,Sensitivity and Specificity ,Candida infections ,Pathology and Forensic Medicine ,High morbidity ,Serum biomarkers ,Biopsy ,Genetics ,medicine ,Animals ,Humans ,Blood culture ,Intensive care medicine ,Molecular Biology ,Candida ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,Candidiasis ,Invasive candidiasis ,medicine.disease ,D-arabinitol ,Immunology ,Molecular Medicine ,Biomarkers - Abstract
Invasive candidiasis is the most important opportunistic fungal infection, causing high morbidity and mortality. Traditional methods of diagnosis, which include blood culture and biopsy, usually lack both sensitivity and specificity, or become positive late in the course of the infection. Therefore, new nonculture-based methods are being developed. In this review, we will discuss the most recent studies concerning the use of serum biomarkers in the diagnosis of invasive Candida infections.
- Published
- 2008
32. A Fungicidal Monoclonal Antibody Protects against Murine Invasive Candidiasis
- Author
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Aitor Rementeria, José Pontón, María Jesús Sevilla, María Dolores Moragues, and Beatriz Robledo
- Subjects
medicine.drug_class ,Phagocytosis ,Immunology ,Monoclonal antibody ,Microbiology ,Mice ,Immunity ,Candida albicans ,medicine ,Animals ,Opsonin ,Antibodies, Fungal ,Mice, Inbred BALB C ,biology ,Macrophages ,Candidiasis ,Antibodies, Monoclonal ,biology.organism_classification ,In vitro ,Corpus albicans ,Infectious Diseases ,biology.protein ,Female ,Parasitology ,Fungal and Parasitic Infections ,Antibody - Abstract
Mice infected by Candida albicans and treated with monoclonal antibody C7 survived longer than saline-treated animals. A prozone-like effect was observed. The in vitro candidacidal activity of macrophages was strongly enhanced when C. albicans was opsonized by C7 and complete murine serum was present.
- Published
- 2006
33. Oral Candida Isolates Colonizing or Infecting Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Infected and Healthy Persons in Mexico
- Author
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María Villar, Luis Octavio Sánchez-Vargas, Natalia Guadalupe Ortiz-López, Luis Alberto Gaitán-Cepeda, María Dolores Moragues, José M. Aguirre, Guillermo Quindós, Miguel Cashat-Cruz, and Jose L. Lopez-Ribot
- Subjects
Adult ,Microbiology (medical) ,HIV Infections ,Mycology ,Microbiology ,Drug Resistance, Fungal ,Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active ,medicine ,Humans ,Colonization ,Candida albicans ,Sida ,Fluconazole ,Mycosis ,Aged ,Candida ,Aged, 80 and over ,Mouth ,biology ,Middle Aged ,biology.organism_classification ,medicine.disease ,Virology ,Carriage ,Viral disease ,Viral load ,medicine.drug - Abstract
Oral yeast carriage was studied in 312 Mexican subjects. Candida albicans was the most frequent species, but other Candida spp. were isolated from 16.5 to 38.5% of patients. Colonization did not correlate with CD4 + number or viral load, but highly active antiretroviral therapy reduced the frequency of candidiasis. Most isolates were susceptible to fluconazole, but 10.8% were resistant to one or more azoles.
- Published
- 2005
34. Prevalencia, microbiología y patrones de sensibilidad a los antifúngicos de los aislamientos orales de Candida que colonizaban o infectaban a pacientes mexicanos con infección por VIH o sida y a personas sanas
- Author
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Natalia Guadalupe Ortiz-López, José M. Aguirre, Luis Octavio Sánchez-Vargas, Luis Alberto Gaitán-Cepeda, Miguel Cashat-Cruz, María Dolores Moragues, María Villar, Jose L. Lopez-Ribot, and Guillerimo Quindós
- Subjects
Antifungal ,Infectious Diseases ,Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) ,medicine.drug_class ,business.industry ,medicine ,Prevalence ,Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) ,business ,medicine.disease_cause ,medicine.disease ,Microbiology - Abstract
Resumen Hemos realizado un estudio longitudinal durante tres anos para valorar la prevalencia, la microbiologia y los patrones de sensibilidad in vitro a los antifungicos de los aislamientos de levaduras que colonizaban o infectaban la cavidad oral de 111 pacientes mexicanos con infeccion por VIH (51 adultos y 60 ninos) y de 201 personas sanas no infectadas por el VIH (109 adultos, 92 ninos). Candida albicans fue la especie mas frecuentemente aislada. Setenta y uno de los 85 aislamientos de personas colonizadas eran C. albicans (83,5%); veintisiete de estos aislamientos procedian de ninos con infeccion por VIH y 44 se aislaron de personas no infectadas por VIH. Sesenta y dos aislamientos de C. albicans pertenecian al serotipo A siendo el serotipo mas prevalente. Se aislaron especies no C. albicans (Candida glabrata, Candida tropicalis, Candida parapsilosis y Saccharomyces cerevisiae) en el 16,5% de los pacientes colonizados y en el 38,5% de los pacientes con candidiasis o enfermedades asociadas a Candida. Hubo nueve episodios de infeccion o colonizacion mixta. En el caso de los pacientes infectados por VIH o con sida, la colonizacion por levaduras no estaba asociada con el numero de CD4+ o la carga viral; sin embargo, el tratamiento anti-retroviral de alta actividad (HAART) reducia la prevalencia de candidiasis oral. La mayoria de los pacientes portadores de levaduras, estaban colonizados o infectados por cepas sensibles a fluconazol. Sin embargo, un 10,8% de las levaduras eran resistentes a uno o mas antifungicos azolicos y un 29% mostraban una sensibilidad intermedia. Por el contrario, la 5-fluorocitosina fue muy activa contra todos los aislamientos estudiados y la anfotericina B lo fue contra el 97,9% de estos.
- Published
- 2005
35. Evaluación de una nueva técnica comercializada (Candida albicans IFA IgG) para el diagnóstico de la candidiasis invasiva
- Author
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Guillermo Quindós, José Pontón-San Emeterio, Juan Carlos García-Ruiz, Almudena Rojas, Joaquín Mendoza, José Ramón Iruretagoyena, Elena Amutio, María Dolores Moragues, and Natalia N.O. Ortiz
- Subjects
Microbiology (medical) ,Disease susceptibility ,biology ,business.industry ,Medicine ,Invasive candidiasis ,Candida albicans ,biology.organism_classification ,business ,medicine.disease ,Molecular biology ,Fungemia ,Corpus albicans - Abstract
Introduccion Se comparan dos pruebas para detectar anticuerpos antimicelio en pacientes con candidiasis invasiva: una nueva tecnica comercializada (Candida albicans IFA IgG) y la tecnica de inmunofluorescencia indirecta tradicionalmente empleada para la deteccion de anticuerpos contra la fase micelial de C. albicans (anticuerpos antimicelio) Metodos Mediante dos tecnicas de inmunofluorescencia indirecta se estudiaron retrospectivamente un total de 172 sueros de 51 pacientes clasificados en dos grupos: el grupo I incluia 123 sueros de 32 pacientes con candidiasis invasiva y el grupo II, utilizado como control, comprendia 49 sueros de 19 pacientes sin evidencia de infeccion por Candida Resultados El 84,4% de los pacientes con candidiasis invasiva (grupo I) presentaron titulos de anticuerpos antimicelio ≥ 1:160 con la prueba Candida albicans IFA IgG, mientras que el 78,1% lo hicieron con la tecnica tradicional. Ambas tecnicas presentaron una alta correlacion al ser comparadas entre si (R2= 0,9512 por pacientes; R2= 0,8986 por sueros). Utilizando un titulo de corte de anticuerpos antimicelio ≥ 1:160 para el diagnostico de la candidiasis invasiva, la prueba Candida albicans IFA IgG presento una sensibilidad del 84,4% y una especificidad del 94,7%, mientras que la tecnica tradicional presento una sensibilidad del 78,1% y una especificidad del 100%. Conclusion. La prueba comercializada Candida albicans IFA IgG es muy similar a la prueba tradicionalmente empleada para la deteccion de anticuerpos antimicelio, permitiendo un diagnostico mas rapido y sencillo de la candidiasis invasiva en los laboratorios de microbiologia hospitalarios
- Published
- 2004
36. Developing chick embryos express a protein which shares homology with the nuclear pore complex protein Nup88 present in human tumors
- Author
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María-Dolores Moragues, María-angustias Palomar, María-José Núñez-Villar, José Pontón, Rafael Linares, Fernando Martínez-Arribas, and José Schneider
- Subjects
Embryology ,animal structures ,medicine.drug_class ,Chick Embryo ,Cross Reactions ,Monoclonal antibody ,Species Specificity ,Antigen ,medicine ,Animals ,Humans ,Tissue Distribution ,Base Sequence ,biology ,Cell growth ,Mesenchymal stem cell ,Antibodies, Monoclonal ,Cell Differentiation ,Embryo ,DNA ,Epithelium ,Neoplasm Proteins ,Cell biology ,Nuclear Pore Complex Proteins ,Blot ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,embryonic structures ,Immunology ,biology.protein ,Antibody ,Cell Division ,Developmental Biology - Abstract
Nup88 is a nuclear pore complex protein which is overexpressed in a variety of human tumors of the stomach, colon, liver, pancreas, breast, lung, ovary, uterus, prostate and kidney. A monoclonal antibody crossreacting with the yeast Candida albicans and Nup88 was used to investigate the expression of cross-reactive antigens in chick embryos, in an attempt to identify an experimental model for studying the role played by Nup88 during cell development and differentiation. All cells in the trilaminar embryo were labeled with the antibody, but as development advanced and organogenesis was completed, expression of the corresponding antigen became more restricted. Thus, some structures continued to be intensely labeled (skin epithelium, oropharyngeal endothelium, perichondral mesenchymal tissue), whereas others ( muscular tissue, vascular endothelium, respiratory endothelium, digestive tract mucosa, peripheral nerves, medullary white matter and the retinal axons) were more moderately stained. No immunoreactivity was observed in the medullary grey matter or cartilage. A specific band of 53 kDa observed by Western blotting of chick embryo extracts suggested that the chicken antigen recognized by the monoclonal antibody is the homologue of human Nup88, which is associated with the high proliferation and low differentiation of tumor cells. The present results indicate that the role of Nup88 in cell differentiation and organ development could be fruitfully investigated using the developing chick embryo as an experimental model.
- Published
- 2004
37. A Monoclonal Antibody Directed against a Candida albicans Cell Wall Mannoprotein Exerts Three Anti- C. albicans Activities
- Author
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Stefania Conti, Natalia Elguezabal, María Dolores Moragues, Luciano Polonelli, María Jesús Sevilla, Miren Josu Omaetxebarria, and José Pontón
- Subjects
Antigens, Fungal ,Pichia anomala ,medicine.drug_class ,Immunology ,Germ tube ,In Vitro Techniques ,Monoclonal antibody ,Microbiology ,Fungal Proteins ,Mice ,Antibody Specificity ,Cell Wall ,Candida albicans ,medicine ,Animals ,Humans ,Antibodies, Fungal ,Cryptococcus neoformans ,Mice, Inbred BALB C ,Fungal protein ,Membrane Glycoproteins ,biology ,Candidiasis ,Antibodies, Monoclonal ,biology.organism_classification ,Corpus albicans ,Antibody opsonization ,Infectious Diseases ,Parasitology ,Fungal and Parasitic Infections - Abstract
Antibodies are believed to play a role in the protection against Candida albicans infections by a number of mechanisms, including the inhibition of adhesion or germ tube formation, opsonization, neutralization of virulence-related enzymes, and direct candidacidal activity. Although some of these biological activities have been demonstrated individually in monoclonal antibodies (MAbs), it is not clear if all these anti- C. albicans activities can be displayed by a single antibody. In this report, we characterized a monoclonal antibody raised against the main target of salivary secretory immunoglobulin A in the cell wall of C. albicans , which exerts three anti- C. albicans activities: (i) inhibition of adherence to HEp-2 cells, (ii) inhibition of germination, and (iii) direct candidacidal activity. MAb C7 reacted with a proteinic epitope from a mannoprotein with a molecular mass of >200 kDa predominantly expressed on the C. albicans germ tube cell wall surface as well as with a number of antigens from Candida lusitaniae , Cryptococcus neoformans , Aspergillus fumigatus , and Scedosporium prolificans. MAb C7 caused a 31.1% inhibition in the adhesion of C. albicans to HEp-2 monolayers and a 55.3% inhibition in the adhesion of C. albicans to buccal epithelial cells, produced a 38.5% decrease in the filamentation of C. albicans , and exhibited a potent fungicidal effect against C. albicans , C. lusitaniae , Cryptococcus neoformans , A. fumigatus , and S. prolificans , showing reductions in fungal growth ranging from 34.2 to 88.7%. The fungicidal activity showed by MAb C7 seems to be related to that reported by antibodies mimicking the activity of a killer toxin produced by the yeast Pichia anomala , since one of these MAbs also reacted with the C. albicans mannoprotein with a molecular mass of >200 kDa. Results presented in this study support the concept of a family of microbicidal antibodies that could be useful in the treatment of a wide range of microbial infections when used alone or in combination with current antimicrobial agents.
- Published
- 2003
38. Casein Agar: a Useful Medium for Differentiating Candida dubliniensis from Candida albicans
- Author
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David C. Coleman, José Pontón, María Dolores Moragues, Christian O. Mosca, José Llovo, and Asmaa Al Mosaid
- Subjects
Microbiology (medical) ,food.ingredient ,Caseins ,Mycology ,Fungi imperfecti ,Biology ,biology.organism_classification ,Yeast ,Corpus albicans ,Bacterial Typing Techniques ,Culture Media ,Microbiology ,Chlamydospore ,food ,Casein ,Candida albicans ,Agar ,Candida dubliniensis - Abstract
Production of chlamydospores on casein agar at 24°C for 48 h provides a simple means for differentiating Candida dubliniensis from Candida albicans based on chlamydospore production. Of 109 C. dubliniensis isolates tested on this medium, 106 (97.2%) produced abundant chlamydospores and three produced few chlamydospores. In contrast, of the 120 C. albicans isolates tested, 111 (92.5%) failed to produce any chlamydospores, whereas the remaining nine isolates produced few chlamydospores. These findings indicate that abundant chlamydospore production on casein agar is a useful test for discriminating between C. dubliniensis and C. albicans.
- Published
- 2003
39. Identification of superficial Candida albicans germ tube antigens in a rabbit model of disseminated candidiasis. A proteomic approach
- Author
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Aranzazu, Sáez-Rosón, María-Jesús, Sevilla, and María-Dolores, Moragues
- Subjects
Fungal Proteins ,Proteomics ,Disease Models, Animal ,Antigens, Fungal ,Tandem Mass Spectrometry ,Candida albicans ,Candidiasis ,Animals ,Humans ,Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional ,Female ,Rabbits ,Spores, Fungal - Abstract
The diagnosis of invasive candidiasis remains a clinical challenge. The detection by indirect immunofluorescence of Candida albicans germ-tube-specific antibodies (CAGTA), directed against germ-tube surface antigens, is a useful diagnostic tool that discriminates between colonization and invasion. However, the standardization of this technique is complicated by its reliance on subjective interpretation. In this study, the antigenic recognition pattern of CAGTA throughout experimental invasive candidiasis in a rabbit animal model was determined by means of 2D-PAGE, Western blotting, and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). Seven proteins detected by CAGTA were identified as methionine synthase, inositol-3-phosphate synthase, enolase 1, alcohol dehydrogenase 1,3-phosphoglycerate kinase, 14-3-3 (Bmhl), and Egd2. To our knowledge, this is the first report of antibodies reacting with Bmhl and Egd2 proteins in an animal model of invasive candidiasis. Although all of the antigens were recognized by CAGTA in cell-wall dithiothreitol extracts of both germ tubes and blastospores of C. albicans, immunoelectron microscopy study revealed their differential location, as the antigens were exposed on the germ-tube cell-wall surface but hidden in the inner layers of the blastospore cell wall. These findings will contribute to developing more sensitive diagnostic methods that enable the earlier detection of invasive candidiasis.
- Published
- 2014
40. Disseminated fusariosis and hematologic malignancies, a still devastating association. Report of three new cases
- Author
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Verónica Velasco-Benito, José Antonio Sánchez-Aparicio, Leyre López-Soria, Rosa María Adán Pedroso, Juan Carlos García-Ruiz, Aurora Navajas, María-Dolores Moragues, Miguel Montejo, and Iñigo Olazábal
- Subjects
Fusarium ,Adult ,Male ,Antifungal Agents ,Adolescent ,Aspergillosis ,Microbiology ,Amphotericin B ,Fusarium oxysporum ,medicine ,Humans ,Mycosis ,Voriconazole ,biology ,food and beverages ,Middle Aged ,biology.organism_classification ,medicine.disease ,Infectious Diseases ,Fusariosis ,Hematologic Neoplasms ,Terbinafine ,Fusarium solani ,medicine.drug - Abstract
Background Fungi of the genus Fusarium are primarily plant pathogens and saprobes that produce disseminated infections in immunologically deficient humans. After aspergillosis, disseminated fusariosis is the second most common cause of invasive infection by filamentous fungi in patients with hematologic malignancies or those undergoing transplants of hematopoietic progenitors. Aims Disseminated fusariosis (DF) is considered an extremely rare infection and has reached a stable incidence rate, but its high mortality rate and the lack of an optimal management protocol have raised increasing interest in this mycosis. Methods We present three cases of DF produced by Fusarium oxysporum species complex, Fusarium solani species complex and the highly unusual Fusarium dimerum in patients with advanced hematological malignancies diagnosed in our hospital between 2007 and 2011. The species level identification of the Fusarium isolates was established by sequencing their TEF1 gene. Results The isolates showed low susceptibility to most of the antifungal agents analyzed, except that observed for F. dimerum to amphotericin B (AmB) and terbinafine, and F. oxysporum species complex to AmB. Interestingly, the strain of F. solani species complex exhibited high MIC values for AmB and voriconazole, notwithstanding these drugs were used for treatment with good results. Other relevant aspects to be considered in the treatment of DF are surgically cleaning foci of infection, withdrawing presumably contaminated catheters and recovery from neutropenia. Conclusions The prevention of infection in colonized patients, the maintenance of a high level of diagnostic suspicion for early diagnosis, and the combined, vigorous and prolonged use of L-AmB and voriconazole are essential to decrease the mortality rate of this devastating infection.
- Published
- 2014
41. Candida albicans and cancer: Can this yeast induce cancer development or progression?
- Author
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Fernando L. Hernando, María Dolores Moragues, Ana Abad-Diaz-de-Cerio, Andoni Ramirez-Garcia, Jose Manuel Aguirre-Urizar, Aitor Rementeria, Aitziber Antoran, and Aize Pellon
- Subjects
medicine.disease_cause ,Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology ,Microbiology ,Metastasis ,Neoplasms ,Candida albicans ,medicine ,Cell Adhesion ,Humans ,Neoplasm Metastasis ,Pathogen ,Carcinogen ,Inflammation ,biology ,Candidiasis ,Cancer ,General Medicine ,biology.organism_classification ,medicine.disease ,Corpus albicans ,Immunity, Innate ,Molecular mimicry ,Cell Transformation, Neoplastic ,Receptors, Pattern Recognition ,Immunology ,Carcinogens ,Disease Progression ,Carcinogenesis ,Signal Transduction - Abstract
There is currently increasing concern about the relation between microbial infections and cancer. More and more studies support the view that there is an association, above all, when the causal agents are bacteria or viruses. This review adds to this, summarizing evidence that the opportunistic fungus Candida albicans increases the risk of carcinogenesis and metastasis. Until recent years, Candida spp. had fundamentally been linked to cancerous processes as it is an opportunist pathogen that takes advantage of the immunosuppressed state of patients particularly due to chemotherapy. In contrast, the most recent findings demonstrate that C. albicans is capable of promoting cancer by several mechanisms, as described in the review: production of carcinogenic byproducts, triggering of inflammation, induction of Th17 response and molecular mimicry. We underline the need not only to control this type of infection during cancer treatment, especially given the major role of this yeast species in nosocomial infections, but also to find new therapeutic approaches to avoid the pro-tumor effect of this fungal species.
- Published
- 2014
42. Candida antigens and immune responses: implications for a vaccine
- Author
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María Jesús Sevilla, María Dolores Moragues, Elena Eraso, Aitor Rementeria, and Guillermo Quindós
- Subjects
Antigens, Fungal ,medicine.drug_class ,Immunology ,Biology ,Monoclonal antibody ,Microbiology ,Mice ,Immune system ,Antigen ,Drug Discovery ,medicine ,Animals ,Humans ,Candida albicans ,Candida ,Pharmacology ,Fungal vaccine ,Clinical Trials as Topic ,Vaccines, Synthetic ,Candidiasis ,biology.organism_classification ,Bacterial adhesin ,Disease Models, Animal ,Immunization ,Monoclonal ,Molecular Medicine ,Rabbits ,Fungal Vaccines - Abstract
Superficial candidiasis of the oral cavity, vagina and the skin are common mild infections though they may be recalcitrant, as in the case of recurrent vaginitis or denture stomatitis. However, in debilitated people with immune deficiencies, Candida can cause serious invasive infections with high mortality. Both types of patients could benefit from the development of vaccines and monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies of utility for a passive immunization, according to their immune status. Several antigens as mannans, β-glucans, various adhesins, heat shock protein 90 and acid secreted proteinases can be very useful for the vaccines development. There is a broad and sound experience with many of these antigens in animal models, mainly in rabbits and mice. However, only two vaccines, based on recombinant antigens (rAls3p-N and rSap2t) are currently being tested in clinical trials.
- Published
- 2014
43. An antibody reactivity-based assay for diagnosis of invasive candidiasis using protein array
- Author
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Francesca Bugli, C de Waure, Brunella Posteraro, Elisabetta Blasi, Maurizio Sanguinetti, Margherita Cacaci, María Dolores Moragues, Samuele Peppoloni, Andrea Ardizzoni, Lidia Manca, Aranzazu Sáez-Rosón, F. Paroni Sterbini, María-Jesús Sevilla, and Maria Cristina Baschieri
- Subjects
Invasive ,Microarray ,Patients ,Immunology ,Protein Array Analysis ,Biology ,Settore MED/07 - MICROBIOLOGIA E MICROBIOLOGIA CLINICA ,Immunoglobulin G ,Antibodies ,Fungal Proteins ,Antigen ,Candida albicans ,medicine ,Immunology and Allergy ,Humans ,Candidiasis, Invasive ,Antigens ,Antibodies, Fungal ,Pharmacology ,Immunoassay ,Fungal protein ,Serodiagnosis ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,Invasive candidiasis (IC) ,Candidiasis ,Protein microarrays ,biology.organism_classification ,Recombinant Proteins ,Fungal ,biology.protein ,Protein microarray ,Antibody - Abstract
The increased incidence of invasive candidiasis and of patients at risk requires early diagnosis and treatment to improve prognosis and survival. The aim of this study was to set up a ten-protein array-based immunoassay to assess the IgG antibody responses against ten well-known immunogenic C. albicans proteins (Bgl2, Eno1, Pgk1, Pdc11, Fba1, Adh1, Als3, Hwp1, Hsp90 and Grp2) in 51 patients with invasive candidiasis (IC) and in 38 culture-negative controls (non-IC). Antibody levels were higher against Bgl2, Eno1, Pgk1, Als3, Hwp1 and Grp2, than against Adh1, Pdc11, Fba1 and Hsp90, irrespectively of the patient group considered. Moreover, the IgG levels against Bgl2, Eno1, Pgk1 and Grp2 were significantly higher in IC than in non-IC patients. Furthermore, the ROC curves generated by the analysis of the antibody responses against Bgl2, Grp2 and Pgk1 displayed AUC values above 0.7, thus discriminating IC and non-IC patients. According to these results, the employment of the microarray immunoassay (a rapid, sensitive and multiparametric system), in parallel with conventional diagnostics, can help to spot IC patients. This ultimately will allow to initiate an early, focused and optimized antifungal therapy.
- Published
- 2014
44. Immunoreactivity of the fungal cell wall
- Author
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Natalia Elguezabal, José Pontón, M. Alvarez, María Dolores Moragues, and Miren Josu Omaetxebarria
- Subjects
Cryptococcus neoformans ,biology ,Blastomyces dermatitidis ,General Medicine ,biology.organism_classification ,medicine.disease ,Fungal antigen ,Microbiology ,Infectious Diseases ,Immune system ,Immunology ,Humoral immunity ,medicine ,biology.protein ,Antibody ,Candida albicans ,Mycosis - Abstract
The cell wall is the major fungal structure involved in the interaction with the host and most of the immunological effects observed with intact fungal cells have been reproduced with cell-wall components. As a result of the exposure to fungal antigens, most individuals develop both cellular and antibody responses intended to limit the invasiveness or to eradicate the fungus from the infected tissues. However, a number of fungi including Candida albicans, Cryptococcus neoformans, Blastomyces dermatitidis, Coccidioides immitis, Trichophyton spp. and Histoplasma capsulatum can also induce T- and B-suppressive activities. A wide diversity of immunodominant cell-wall antigens for both cell-mediated and humoral responses have been identified in the most important fungal pathogens, although considerable differences exist in the information available at the molecular level among the different mycoses. Cellular responses require macrophage and Th1 activation, whereas humoral responses comprise the activation of the complement system and the induction of antibodies. The ability of fungal cell-wall components to elicit cellular or humoral immune responses has been traditionally used in the serodiagnosis of mycoses, the identification of fungal organisms and the development of vaccines for the prevention of mycoses. In the future, the analysis of such molecules will provide critical information in understanding the nature of host-fungus interactions.
- Published
- 2001
45. Identificación rápida de Candida dubliniensis mediante la prueba Bichro-Dubli®
- Author
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José Pontón, Guillermo Quindós, María Dolores Moragues, Javier Pemán, Ismail H. Sahand, and Rebeca Ortiz
- Subjects
Microbiology (medical) ,Biology ,biology.organism_classification ,Molecular biology ,Candida dubliniensis - Abstract
Objetivos Debido a su interes epidemiologico, la correcta identificacion de Candida dubliniensis deberia introducirse de forma sistematica de los laboratorios de Microbiologia Clinica. Para facilitar esta labor, se evalua la idoneidad de la nueva prueba rapida Bichro-Dubli ® (Fumouze Diagnostics, Levallois-Perret, Francia). Metodos Se estudiaron 75 cepas de coleccion (55 C. dubliniensis y 20 C. albicans ) y 135 aislamientos clinicos de levaduras que crecieron como colonias verdes en CHROMagar Candida. Resultados La prueba Bichro-Dubli ® fue positiva en 54 de las 55 cepas de C. dubliniensis (sensibilidad 98,2%) y negativa en las 20 cepas de C. albicans (especificidad 100%). La prueba identifico los 4 aislamientos de C. dubliniensis presentes en 135 aislamientos cultivados de muestras clinicas. Conclusiones Bichro-Dubli ® es una prueba de facil realizacion que permite la identificacion rapida de C. dubliniensis .
- Published
- 2007
46. Fungicidal Monoclonal Antibody C7 Binds to Candida albicans Als3
- Author
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Jonathan Cabezas, Sonia Brena, María Dolores Moragues, José Pontón, Miren Josu Omaetxebarria, and Natalia Elguezabal
- Subjects
medicine.drug_class ,Immunology ,Monoclonal antibody ,Microbiology ,law.invention ,Fungal Proteins ,Cell wall ,Mice ,Cell Wall ,law ,Candida albicans ,medicine ,Animals ,Antibodies, Fungal ,Fungal protein ,biology ,Mouth Mucosa ,Antibodies, Monoclonal ,Epithelial Cells ,biology.organism_classification ,Molecular biology ,Recombinant Proteins ,Yeast ,Corpus albicans ,Infectious Diseases ,Epitope mapping ,Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization ,Recombinant DNA ,Parasitology ,Rabbits ,Fungal and Parasitic Infections ,Epitope Mapping - Abstract
Monoclonal antibody (MAb) C7 reacted with a >200-kDa component from the Candida albicans cell wall identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry as Als3. It also bound the recombinant N terminus of Als3. Binding of MAb C7 to Als3 may explain the biological activities exerted by the MAb on C. albicans .
- Published
- 2007
47. Aislamiento de Issatchenkia occidentalis en el esófago de un paciente con leucemia
- Author
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Amalia del Palacio, Guillermo Quindós, José Pontón, María-Dolores Moragues, Ismail H. Sahand, and Almudena Alhambra
- Subjects
Pathology ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Infectious Diseases ,Bone marrow transplantation ,Male patient ,business.industry ,Medicine ,Esophageal biopsy ,Issatchenkia occidentalis ,Herpetic lesions ,business ,Microbiology ,DNA sequencing - Abstract
Issatchenkia occidentalis was isolated from an esophageal biopsy of a young leukemic male patient who underwent bone marrow transplantation. At the time the specimen was collected, the patient was also suffering from esophageal herpetic lesions. The identification of the isolate was not possible by the use of the available commercial methods. Thus, its identification was done by PCR and DNA sequencing using panfungal primers.
- Published
- 2006
48. Evaluation of Bichro-Dubli Fumouze® to distinguish Candida dubliniensis from Candida albicans
- Author
-
José Pontón, María Dolores Moragues, Ismail H. Sahand, Raymond Robert, and Guillermo Quindós
- Subjects
Microbiology (medical) ,food.ingredient ,biology ,General Medicine ,Fungi imperfecti ,equipment and supplies ,biology.organism_classification ,Sensitivity and Specificity ,Yeast ,Culture Media ,Latex fixation test ,Microbiology ,Infectious Diseases ,food ,Species Specificity ,Agar ,Chromagar candida ,Candida albicans ,Latex Fixation Tests ,Candida dubliniensis ,Candida - Abstract
We have evaluated the ability of the Bichro-Dubli Fumouze® (Fumouze Diagnostics, Levallois-Perret, France) latex agglutination test to identify colonies of Candida dubliniensis grown on different media. The test was positive for 103 of 106 isolates of C. dubliniensis and negative for Candida albicans and other Candida species studied. The sensitivity and specificity of the test were 97.1% and 100%, respectively. The test is very rapid, simple, and reliable giving the same results independently of whether the colonies are grown previously on Sabouraud dextrose agar, CHROMagar Candida medium, Candida ID2 medium, or CHROMagar–Pal's medium.
- Published
- 2006
49. Invasive aspergillosis due to subungual onychomycosis during treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma
- Author
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A. del Palacio, José Pontón, María-Dolores Moragues, J. M. Moreno, M. S. Cuetara, Almudena Alhambra, and C. Postigo
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,Pathology ,business.industry ,medicine.medical_treatment ,Immunosuppression ,Dermatology ,medicine.disease ,Aspergillosis ,Nail disease ,medicine ,Hodgkin lymphoma ,business ,Mycosis - Published
- 2006
50. Anabolic steroids affect human periodontal health and microbiota
- Author
-
Fernando Verdugo, María Isabel Brusca, Celeste Amighini, Olatz Albaina, and María Dolores Moragues
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,Periodontium ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Adolescent ,Candida parapsilosis ,Severe periodontitis ,Candida tropicalis ,Young Adult ,Anabolic Agents ,Internal medicine ,medicine ,Humans ,General Dentistry ,Periodontitis ,biology ,business.industry ,Microbiota ,Prevotella intermedia ,Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans ,Odds ratio ,biology.organism_classification ,medicine.disease ,Clinical attachment loss ,Immunology ,Steroids ,business - Abstract
This study aims to evaluate periodontal microbiological differences between systemically healthy nonsmoker males taking anabolic androgenic steroids (AASs) and non-AAS users and to find associations between disease severity and AAS use. Ninety-two men practicing bodybuilding were included in the study. They were divided into AAS users and a matched control nonuser group and subgrouped based on their most severe periodontal condition. Pooled subgingival samples from each individual were cultured to evaluate specific periodontopathogen infection. AAS users had significantly higher prevalence of severe periodontitis. AAS users had greater gingival inflammation and clinical attachment loss of ≥3 mm than nonusers (odds ratio (OR) = 2.4; p = 0.09; 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.8–6.4). AAS users were 4.9 times more likely to be infected with Prevotella intermedia than AAS nonusers (OR = 4.9; p = 0.003; 95 % CI 1.6–14.7). The OR of presenting subgingival Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans was 8.2 times higher in AAS users (OR = 8.2; p = 0.03; 95 % CI 0.9–70.8). AAS users were 5.6 times more likely to present subgingival Candida spp. than nonusers (OR = 5.6; p = 0.02; 95 % CI 1.1–27.1). AAS users were 14.8 times more likely to present subgingival Candida parapsilosis than nonusers (OR = 14.8; p
- Published
- 2013
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