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Modulation of Virulence-Associated Traits in <i>Aspergillus fumigatus</i> by BET Inhibitor JQ1
oleh: Anastasia Orekhova, Marta De Angelis, Andrea Cacciotti, Massimo Reverberi, Dante Rotili, Alessandra Giorgi, Virginia Protto, Graziana Bonincontro, Francesco Fiorentino, Victor Zgoda, Antonello Mai, Anna Teresa Palamara, Giovanna Simonetti
| Format: | Article |
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| Diterbitkan: | MDPI AG 2022-11-01 |
Deskripsi
<i>Aspergillus fumigatus</i> is a disease-causing, opportunistic fungus that can establish infection due to its capacity to respond to a wide range of environmental conditions. Secreted proteins and metabolites, which play a critical role in fungal–host interactions and pathogenesis, are modulated by epigenetic players, such as bromodomain and extraterminal domain (BET) proteins. In this study, we evaluated the in vitro and in vivo capability of the BET inhibitor JQ1 to modulate the extracellular proteins and virulence of <i>A. fumigatus.</i> The abundance of 25 of the 76 extracellular proteins identified through LC-MS/MS proteomic analysis changed following JQ1 treatment. Among them, a ribonuclease, a chitinase, and a superoxide dismutase were dramatically downregulated. Moreover, the proteomic analysis of <i>A. fumigatus</i> intracellular proteins indicated that Abr2, an intracellular laccase involved in the last step of melanin synthesis, was absent in the JQ1-treated group. To investigate at which level this downregulation occurred and considering the ability of JQ1 to modulate gene expression we checked the level of <i>ABR2</i>, <i>Chitinase</i>, and <i>Superoxide dismutase</i> mRNA expression by qRT-PCR. Finally, the capacity of JQ1 to reduce the virulence of <i>A. fumigatus</i> has been proved using <i>Galleria mellonella</i> larvae, which are an in vivo model to evaluate fungal virulence. Overall, the promising activity exhibited by JQ1 suggests that <i>A. fumigatus</i> is sensitive to BET inhibition and BET proteins may be a viable target for developing antifungal agents.