The Sweet Side of Fungal Infections: Structural Glycan Diversity and Its Importance for Pathogenic Adaptation
Israel Diniz-Lima,
Leonardo Marques da Fonseca,
Jhenifer Santos dos Reis,
Marcos André Rodrigues da Costa Santos,
Kelli Monteiro da Costa,
Carlos Antonio do Nascimento Santos,
Pedro Marçal Barcelos,
Kamila Guimarães-Pinto,
Alessandra Almeida Filardy,
Marco Edilson Freire-de-Lima,
Debora Decote-Ricardo,
Alexandre Morrot,
Celio Geraldo Freire-de-Lima,
Leonardo Freire-de-Lima
Affiliations
Israel Diniz-Lima
Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-170, Brazil
Leonardo Marques da Fonseca
Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-170, Brazil
Jhenifer Santos dos Reis
Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-170, Brazil
Marcos André Rodrigues da Costa Santos
Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-170, Brazil
Kelli Monteiro da Costa
Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-170, Brazil
Carlos Antonio do Nascimento Santos
Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-170, Brazil
Pedro Marçal Barcelos
Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-170, Brazil
Kamila Guimarães-Pinto
Instituto de Microbiologia Paulo de Goes, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-170, Brazil
Alessandra Almeida Filardy
Instituto de Microbiologia Paulo de Goes, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-170, Brazil
Marco Edilson Freire-de-Lima
Instituto de Química, Departamento de Química Orgânica, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 23890-000, Brazil
Debora Decote-Ricardo
Departamento de Microbiologia e Imunologia Veterinária, Instituto de Veterinária, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 23890-000, Brazil
Alexandre Morrot
Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro 21040-360, Brazil
Celio Geraldo Freire-de-Lima
Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-170, Brazil
Leonardo Freire-de-Lima
Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-170, Brazil
Fungal infections are the most common secondary infections in debilitated individuals in a state of chronic disease or immunosuppression. Despite this, most fungal infections are neglected, mainly due to the lower frequency of their more severe clinical forms in immunocompetent individuals with a healthy background. However, over the past few years, several cases of severe fungal infections in healthy individuals have provoked a change in the epidemiological dynamics of fungal infections around the world, both due to recurrent outbreaks in previously infrequent regions and the greater emergence of more pathogenic fungal variants affecting healthy individuals, such as in the Cryptococcus genus. Therefore, before the arrival of a scenario of prevalent severe fungal infections, it is necessary to assess more carefully what are the real reasons for the increased incidence of fungal infection globally. What are the factors that are currently contributing to this new possible epidemiological dynamic? Could these be of a structural nature? Herein, we propose a discussion based on the importance of the virulence factors of glycoconjugate composition in the adaptation of pathogenic fungal species into the current scenario of increasing severity of these infections.