Fungal intruder shrinks, develops to aid infection spread: Study

WASHINGTON: According to new research from the University of Utah Health, a fungus that is a major cause of fungal meningitis undergoes a remarkable change once it enters the body, allowing it to infect the brain.

In mouse studies, the fungal intruder shrinks and develops features that aid infection spread in a matter of days as it moves through the body. The findings of the study were published in the journal Cell Host & Microbe.

The discovery could lead to new strategies for blocking Cryptococcus neoformans infection and preventing detrimental effects on the host. C. neoformans is the leading cause of a rare but deadly swelling of the brain that occurs in people with weakened immune systems.

"Cryptococcus cells in the lungs are very diverse with different sizes and different appearances. So, when my graduate student showed me pictures of the uniformity of cells from the brain, I was shocked," says Jessica Brown, Ph.D., associate professor of pathology at U of U Health and the study's senior author. "It suggested that there was some very strong reason why only this population of cells were making it that far into the body." Her former graduate student, Steven Denham, PhD, is leading author on the study.

The fungus adapts rapidly to withstand microenvironments in the body

Brown's fascination with the fungus came from the observation that it thrives in so many different habitats. In the wild, the organism lives in rotting wood and bird droppings. If it is inadvertently inhaled, the fungus can survive in the lungs and then travel in the bloodstream to the brain and other organs, each of which has its own challenging micro-environment.