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Aditya Kumar Gupta, MD., Toronto Western Research Institute, Toronto, ON. Dermatophytes are fungi that can cause infections of the skin, hair, and nails due to their ability to utilize keratin, with many cases of onychomycosis caused by the dermatophyte, Trichophyton mentagrophytes. While the disease is generally not life-threatening, without treatment, the nails can become thick enough to be physically debilitating, with instances of chronic fungal foot infection. There are reports that Trichophyton infections can result in generalized invasive disseminated infection in immunocompromised pateients such as those with cancer, diabetes, and chronic ailments. Although Trichophyton infections generally target the elderly or health-compromised patients inflicted by diabetes or by immune system disorders, its incidence has been rapidly increasing due to the importation of Trichophyton strains from abroad, in concert with an increase in the ageing population. Currently it is estimated that 13% of the North American population suffers from onychomycosis. T. mentagrophytes infections are normally treated with antifungals but evidence suggests that effective treatment can be compromised by the species adaptation to prolonged drug exposure. An understanding of the molecular mechanisms of T. mentagrophytes drug resistance is therefore critical for formulation of new drugs and development of effective treatments. The aim of this project is to identify and isolate the T. mentagrophytes drug resistance genes to determine their mode of action and relevance in antimycotic therapy failure. This may help identify more effective therapeutic regimens. ©2008 |
