It is everywhere – and it is extremely dangerous for people with a weakened immune system. The fungus Aspergillus fumigatus occurs virtually everywhere on Earth, as a dark grey, wrinkled cushion on damp walls or in microscopically small spores that blow through the air and cling to wallpaper, mattresses and floors.

Healthy people usually have no problem if spores find their way into their body, as their immune defence system will put the spores out of action. However, the fungus can threaten the lives of people with a compromised immune system, such as AIDS patients or people who are immunosuppressed following an organ transplantation.

An international research team led by Prof. Oliver Werz of Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, has now discovered how the fungus knocks out the immune defences, enabling a potentially fatal fungal infection to develop. The researchers present their findings in the current issue of the specialist journal Cell Chemical Biology (DOI: 10.1016/j.chembiol.2019.01.001).

Read more at Friedrich Schiller University, Jena

Image: Petri dish with Aspergillus fumigatus. (Credit: Jan-Peter Kasper/University of Jena)