UNLABELLED A vaccine capable of protecting at-risk persons against infections due to Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii could reduce the substantial global burden of human cryptococcosis. Vaccine development has been hampered though, by lack of knowledge as to which antigens are immunoprotective and the need for an effective vaccine delivery system. We made alkaline extracts from m...

Cryptococcosis is the leading invasive fungal infection in the world today. Over the past century, the causative agents, Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii, have risen from the status of medical curiosities to common but life-threatening central nervous system pathogens. In an elegant experimental pathobiology study of these two organisms carried out by Ngamskulrungroj et al., ther...

Cryptococcus gattii, the sister species of Cryptococcus neoformans, is an emerging pathogen which gained importance in connection with the ongoing cryptococcosis outbreak on Vancouver Island. Many molecular studies have divided this species into for major lineages: VGI, VGII, VGIII, and VGIV. This commentary summarizes the whole-genome sequencing (WGS) studies that have been carried out with th...

Cryptococcosis is an invasive fungal infection that occurs worldwide. Infections caused by Cryptococcus (C.) neoformans are commonly associated with immunocompromised patients, while those caused by C. gattii predominantly affect immunocompetent hosts. However, the latter has also been increasingly reported in immunocompromised patients such as those with HIV. Cutaneous involvement by C. gattii...

The incidence of cryptococcal infection is high in developing countries such as India. Cryptococcus gattii, formerly known as Cryptococcus neoformans var gattii, is an encapsulated yeast that causes disease in both immunocompetent and immunosupressed individuals. The organism enters via respiratory tract and causes a spectrum of illness ranging from asymptomatic infection to severe illness, inc...

All of the isolates of Cryptococcus neoformans var. gattii which we tested were resistant to greater than or equal to 3.5 mM canavanine. All of the serotype D isolates and 28% of the serotype A isolates of C. neoformans var. neoformans tested were susceptible to less than or equal to 18 microM canavanine, whereas the remaining 72% of the serotype A isolates were as resistant as the C. neoforman...

Genomic analysis has placed the origins of two human-pathogenic fungi, the Cryptococcus gattii species complex and the Cryptococcus neoformans species complex, in South America and Africa, respectively. Molecular clock calculations suggest that the two species separated ~80 to 100 million years ago. This time closely approximates the breakup of the supercontinent Pangea, which gave rise to Sout...

Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii are the two etiologic agents of cryptococcosis. They belong to the phylum Basidiomycota and can be readily distinguished from other pathogenic yeasts such as Candida by the presence of a polysaccharide capsule, formation of melanin, and urease activity, which all function as virulence determinants. Infection proceeds via inhalation and subsequent ...

Development of a vaccine to protect against cryptococcosis is a priority given the enormous global burden of disease in at-risk individuals. Using glucan particles (GPs) as a delivery system, we previously demonstrated that mice vaccinated with crude Cryptococcus-derived alkaline extracts were protected against lethal challenge with Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii The goal of th...