Introduction

Aspergillosis is a fungal infection caused by several fungi belonging to the Aspergillus species. A. fumigatus is one of the main causes of Aspergillosis insurgency and it is associated with a wide spectrum of diseases in humans ranging from severe infections to allergy in immune-compromised patients. Humoral Pattern Recognition Molecules (PRMs) are components of innate immune response, that interacting with pentraxins are able to recognize and to phagocyte pathogens (Fig. 1). For these reasons a novel immunological approach to recognize A.Fumigatus in immunosuppressed patients can be useful.

Technical features

We found a component of pentraxins family called Serum Amyloid P component (SAP) capable to phagocyte pathogens as well as A.fumigatus in mice. We observed an increase of SAP level in blood of mice after A.Fumigatus infection (Fig. 2). Elevated SAP levels determine an activation of complement-mediated inflammatory and innate responses essential for pathogen clearance. We observed that after C1q complement activation a functional fragment of SAP retaining native SAP activity is able to phagocyte pathogens and exert a microbicide effect inducing assembly of the terminal membrane lytic complex on fungal surface via the classical complement activation pathway. On the basis of these evidences we propose a novel therapeutic use of SAP, in particular in therapy-induced immunocompromised patients (Fig 3).

Possible Applications

• SAP functional fragment can be administrated in several forms such as tablets, as suppositories, for inhalation or for transdermal or as transdermal formulations;
• The fragment may be used in immune compromised patients affected by neutropenia following chemotherapy or radiotherapy treatment.

Advantages

• Early diagnosis in patients affected by Aspergillosis, in particular in immunocompromised patients.