Ajdidi, Ahmad and Sheehan, Gerard and Kavanagh, Kevin (2020) Exposure of Aspergillus fumigatus to Atorvastatin Leads to Altered Membrane Permeability and Induction of an Oxidative Stress Response. Journal of Fungi, 6 (42). ISSN 2309-608X

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Abstract

Aspergillus fumigatus is a serious cause of disease in immune-deficient patients and in those with pulmonary malfunction (e.g., cystic fibrosis (CF), asthma). Atorvastatin is a member of the statin drug family, which are the main therapeutic agents used to decrease high serum cholesterol levels by inhibiting (HMG-CoA) reductase enzyme. The aim of the work presented here was to analyse the antifungal activity of atorvastatin and assess its effect on the virulence of A. fumigatus. Atorvastatin demonstrated strong antifungal activity and reduced the growth and viability of A. fumigatus. Exposure of A. fumigatus to atorvastatin led to a reduction in ergosterol content and increased membrane permeability, as evidenced by the release of protein, amino acids and gliotoxin. Proteomic analysis revealed an increased abundance of proteins associated with an oxidative stress response, such as the glutathione s-transferase family protein (+8.43-fold), heat shock protein Hsp30/Hsp42 (+2.02-fold) and 5-demethoxyubiquinone hydroxylase, mitochondrial (+1.73-fold), as well as secondary metabolites such as isocyanide synthase A icsA (+8.52-fold) and non-ribosomal peptide synthetase fmpE (+3.06-fold). The results presented here indicate that atorvastatin has strong antifungal properties and may have potential application in the treatment of A. fumigatus infections alone or in combination with existing antifungal agents

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Cite as: Ajdidi, A.; Sheehan, G.; Kavanagh, K. Exposure of Aspergillus fumigatus to Atorvastatin Leads to Altered Membrane Permeability and Induction of an Oxidative Stress Response. J. Fungi 2020, 6, 42.
Keywords:	atorvastatin; Aspergillus; ergosterol; infection; proteomics;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Science and Engineering > Biology
Item ID:	13676
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.3390/jof6020042
Depositing User:	Dr. Kevin Kavanagh
Date Deposited:	26 Nov 2020 16:58
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal of Fungi
Publisher:	MDPI
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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