As the importance of antifungal drugs in the practice of modern medicine increased dramatically, Creative Biolabs has successfully built a comprehensive antifungal drug discovery platform with multiple high-end technologies. We provide a full series of antifungal drug discovery services against various fungal infections, including Cryptococcosis.
Properties of Cryptococcosis
Cryptococcosis is an infectious disease with worldwide distribution and wide array of clinical presentations caused by pathogenic encapsulated yeasts in the genus Cryptococcus. Cryptococcosis is an important systemic mycosis and the third most prevalent disease in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive individuals. Among the systemic mycoses, it ranked as having the highest incidence in immunocompromised patients. It is estimated that one million cases of cryptococcosis per year are associated with HIV worldwide, thus, the increase of systemic mycosis is directly related to the increased incidence of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) worldwide. In addition, Cryptococcal meningitis is one of the most common causes of death.
Pathogenic Fungi of Cryptococcosis
Currently, there are 2 species of Cryptococcus that commonly cause disease in humans: Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii. C. neoformans and C. gattii have a major predilection for establishing clinical disease in the lungs and CNS. Other less frequent body sites of infection include skin, prostate, eyes, and bone/joints. Furthermore, it should be emphasized that this yeast can widely disseminate and infect most organs in severely immunosuppressed patients and thus has the ability to appear at any human body site.
Fig.1 Current model of the immune response to Cryptococcus in health and disease. (Elsegeiny, 2018)
Cryptococcosis Treatment
The antifungal arsenal for treatment against cryptococcosis currently is largely limited to three old and off-patent drugs, used singly or in combination: amphotericin B (and its liposomal derivatives), 5-fluorocytosine (5-FC) and fluconazole. For cryptococcal meningitis, treatment is split into three phases. An initial 2-week induction therapy with a fungicidal Amphotericin B deoxycholate (AmBd), followed by 8-week consolidation therapy and subsequent maintenance therapy with fluconazole, continued for 6-12 months and/or until restoration of host immunity.
AmBd is the cornerstone of treatment for severe cryptococcal infection, including meningoencephalitis. Flucytosine (5-FC) is used in combination therapy with AmBd as first-line therapy in cryptococcal meningitis or severe pulmonary cryptococcosis. This combination represents the most potent fungicidal regimen, with faster CSF sterilization and fewer relapses, and is associated with lower attributable mortality.
Features of our Services
With the help of our well-established technologies and skillful scientific team, Creative Biolabs is capable of providing one-stop antifungal drug discovery service including target identification and validation, hit identification, hit to lead, lead optimization as well as IND-enabling to meet the novel drug discovery goals. Our service aims at various fungal diseases not limited to Cryptococcosis. We provide very flexible options for each specific case. We are happy to make it accessible to all kinds of research and industrial customers. Please contact us for more information and a detailed quote.
Reference
For Research Use Only.
