Editor's Summary
3 April 2008
Fungal drug resistance
Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a serious complication during treatment of the opportunistic fungal infections that frequently afflict immunosupressed patients. MDR is often caused by upregulation of drug efflux pumps by members of the fungal zinc-cluster transcription-factor family (for example Pdr1p orthologues). Thakur et al. now show that Pdr1p-type molecules in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the human pathogen Candida glabrata bind directly to structurally diverse drugs and toxic substances, resulting in stimulated expression of drug efflux pumps and induction of MDR. Improved knowledge of the molecular pathways controlling MDR in pathogenic fungi should facilitate the development of therapies to combat these intransigent infections.
News and Views: Drug resistance: The fight against fungi
Although several drugs are available to combat often-deadly fungal infections, many of these pathogens have acquired multidrug resistance. Discerning how they have achieved this could help us hit back.
André Goffeau
doi:10.1038/452541a
Article: A nuclear receptor-like pathway regulating multidrug resistance in fungi
Jitendra K. Thakur, Haribabu Arthanari, Fajun Yang, Shih-Jung Pan, Xiaochun Fan, Julia Breger, Dominique P. Frueh, Kailash Gulshan, Darrick K. Li, Eleftherios Mylonakis, Kevin Struhl, W. Scott Moye-Rowley, Brendan P. Cormack, Gerhard Wagner & Anders M. Näär
doi:10.1038/nature06836
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (591K) | Supplementary information
