Effect of antimicrobials on the polymicrobial infection by Aspergillus fumigatus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Abstract

Polymicrobial infections are becoming increasingly important since they rely on mixed biofilm formation, antimicrobial resistance increase, immunological evasion, less growth time and a number of other factors. One of the examples is the interaction between Aspergillus fumigatus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, very common in cystic fibrosis disease, leading to an intensification of the inflammatory response and consequently leading to a greater tissue damage of the respiratory tract. The association of fungi and bacteria represents a difficulty in the treatment, because they are pathogens with several different characteristics. However, the presence of ² (1,3) D-glucan in both the fungal cell wall and in the bacterial cyclic periplasmic, and also, constituting the extracellular matrix of biofilms of both, opens the possibility for a monotherapy of mixed infections with echinocandins. Therefore, in addition to the antifungal effect of the echinocandin, this drug can have a great importance as antibacterial. Thus, this project aims to evaluate the effect of caspofungin on the polymicrobial infection of A. fumigatus and P. aeruginosa, making possible an improvement in the inflammatory symptoms of cystic fibrosis.