Dr. Jeniel Nett leads identification of new therapeutic target for dangerous fungal infections
The fungal pathogen, Candida auris, poses a growing threat in hospitals and care facilities
A multidisciplinary team of University of Wisconsin–Madison (UW–Madison) researchers led by Jeniel Nett, MD, PhD, associate professor, Infectious Disease, has identified a promising new therapeutic candidate against Candida auris, an emerging fungal pathogen that has alarmed health officials worldwide because of its ability to resist multiple antifungal drugs and spread rapidly through hospitals and care facilities.
“It’s a global public health threat,” says Dr. Nett. “Candida auris is the first fungus to spread in hospitals and cause serious disease.”
While the fungus’s presence on skin isn’t itself life-threatening, there are many opportunities for internal exposure—whether through surgery, a catheter or other medical devices—where it can pose grave danger. Between 30 to 60% of patients who develop a Candida auris infection die, usually due to sepsis after the fungus enters their bloodstream after getting inside the body.
With funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. Nett led a team that closely studied the yeast in search of any weaknesses that could be exploited in the fight against it. The need is urgent; there are three major classes of antifungal drugs, and certain strains of Candida auris are resistant to all three of them.
The research team identified potassium as essential to the growth of the fungus. Further, they constructed all kinds of mutant versions of Candida auris, with various genes deleted, and discovered that the elimination of a single gene was enough to stop the fungus from growing. The gene, called TRK1, controls a protein by the same name that transports the potassium required for Candida auris to grow and colonize skin and other surfaces.