Distinct galactofuranose antigens in the cell wall and culture supernatants as a means to differentiate Fusarium from AspergillusspeciesAnnegret

Annegret Wiedemann, Tamara Katharina Kakoschke, Cornelia Speth, Günter Rambach, Christian Ensinger, Henrik Elvang Jensen, Frank Ebel

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

tDetection of carbohydrate antigens is an important means for diagnosis of invasive fungal infections. Fordiagnosis of systemic Aspergillus infections, galactomannan is commonly used, the core antigenic struc-ture of which consists of chains of several galactofuranose moieties. In this study, we provide evidence thatFusarium produces at least two distinct galactofuranose antigens: Smaller amounts of galactomannanand larger quantities of a novel antigen recognized by the monoclonal antibody AB135-8. In A. fumiga-tus, only minor amounts of the AB135-8 antigen are found in supernatants and in the apical regions ofhyphae. A galactofuranose-deficient A. fumigatus mutant lacks the AB135-8 antigen, which strongly sug-gests that galactofuranose is an essential constituent of this antigen. Using a combination of AB135-8 anda galactomannan-specific antibody, we were able to unambiguously differentiate A. fumigatus and Fusar-ium hyphae in immunohistology. Moreover, since Fusarium releases the AB135-8 antigen, it appears tobe a promising target antigen for a serological detection of Fusarium infections.
Original languageEnglish
JournalInternational Journal of Medical Microbiology
Volume306
Pages (from-to)381-390
ISSN1438-4221
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2016

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