Octyl Gallate as an Intervention Catalyst to Augment Antifungal Efficacy of Caspofungin

Jong H. Kim, Kathleen L. Chan and Luisa W. Cheng
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Jong H. Kim: Foodborne Toxin Detection and Prevention Research Unit, Western Regional Research Center, USDA-ARS, 800 Buchanan St., Albany, CA 94710, USA
Kathleen L. Chan: Foodborne Toxin Detection and Prevention Research Unit, Western Regional Research Center, USDA-ARS, 800 Buchanan St., Albany, CA 94710, USA
Luisa W. Cheng: Foodborne Toxin Detection and Prevention Research Unit, Western Regional Research Center, USDA-ARS, 800 Buchanan St., Albany, CA 94710, USA

J, 2018, vol. 1, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Filamentous fungi such as Aspergillus spp. are opportunistic pathogens, which cause highly invasive infections, especially in immunocompromised individuals. Control of such fungal pathogens is increasingly problematic due to the small number of effective drugs available for treatment. Moreover, the increased incidence of fungal resistance to antifungal agents makes this problem a global human health issue. The cell wall integrity system of fungi is the target of antimycotic drugs echinocandins, such as caspofungin (CAS). However, echinocandins cannot completely inhibit the growth of filamentous fungal pathogens, which results in survival/escape of fungi during treatment. Chemosensitization was developed as an alternative intervention strategy, where co-application of CAS with the intervention catalyst octyl gallate (OG; chemosensitizer) greatly enhanced CAS efficacy, thus achieved ≥99.9% elimination of filamentous fungi in vitro. Based on hypersensitive responses of Aspergillus antioxidant mutants to OG, it is hypothesized that, besides destabilizing cell wall integrity, the redox-active characteristic of OG may further debilitate the fungal antioxidant system.

Keywords: antioxidant system; cell wall integrity; chemosensitization; end point; fungi; small molecule (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 I10 I12 I13 I14 I18 I19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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