Efficacy of liposomal amphotericin B and posaconazole in intratracheal models of murine mucormycosis

Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2013 Jul;57(7):3340-7. doi: 10.1128/AAC.00313-13. Epub 2013 May 6.

Abstract

Mucormycosis is a life-threatening fungal infection almost uniformly affecting diabetics in ketoacidosis or other forms of acidosis and/or immunocompromised patients. Inhalation of Mucorales spores provides the most common natural route of entry into the host. In this study, we developed an intratracheal instillation model of pulmonary mucormycosis that hematogenously disseminates into other organs using diabetic ketoacidotic (DKA) or cyclophosphamide-cortisone acetate-treated mice. Various degrees of lethality were achieved for the DKA or cyclophosphamide-cortisone acetate-treated mice when infected with different clinical isolates of Mucorales. In both DKA and cyclophosphamide-cortisone acetate models, liposomal amphotericin B (LAmB) or posaconazole (POS) treatments were effective in improving survival, reducing lungs and brain fungal burdens, and histologically resolving the infection compared with placebo. These models can be used to study mechanisms of infection, develop immunotherapeutic strategies, and evaluate drug efficacies against life-threatening Mucorales infections.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Amphotericin B / administration & dosage
  • Amphotericin B / pharmacology
  • Amphotericin B / therapeutic use*
  • Animals
  • Antifungal Agents / administration & dosage
  • Antifungal Agents / pharmacology
  • Antifungal Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Cortisone / analogs & derivatives
  • Cyclophosphamide
  • Diabetic Ketoacidosis / chemically induced
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred ICR
  • Mice, Inbred NOD
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Mucorales / drug effects*
  • Mucormycosis / drug therapy*
  • Mucormycosis / microbiology
  • Triazoles / administration & dosage
  • Triazoles / pharmacology
  • Triazoles / therapeutic use*

Substances

  • Antifungal Agents
  • Triazoles
  • liposomal amphotericin B
  • posaconazole
  • Amphotericin B
  • Cyclophosphamide
  • Cortisone