Heat Shock Proteins in Histoplasma and Paracoccidioides

Abstract

Heat shock proteins (Hsps) are highly conserved biomolecules that are constitutively expressed and generally upregulated in response to various stress conditions (biotic and abiotic). Hsps have diverse functions, categorizations, and classifications. Their adaptive expression in fungi indicates their significance in these diverse species, particularly in dimorphic pathogens. Histoplasma capsulatum and Paracoccidioides species are dimorphic fungi that are the causative agents of histoplasmosis and paracoccidioidomycosis, respectively. This minireview focuses on the pathobiology of Hsps, with particular emphasis on their roles in the morphogenesis and virulence of Histoplasma and Paracoccidioides and the potential roles of active and passive immunization against Hsps in protection against infection with these fungi.

Characterization of Aspergillus fumigatus Extracellular Vesicles and Their Effects on Macrophages and Neutrophils Functions

“…Chaperones are involved in morphogenesis, stress response (temperature and pH), osmolarity and antifungal resistance. This family of proteins were also identified in EVs of others fungi, such as C. neoformans , H. capsulatum , and C. albicans (Albuquerque et al, 2008; Rodrigues et al, 2008; Vargas et al, 2015) and are related to virulence and resistance to antifungals (Cordeiro et al, 2016; Cleare et al, 2017; O’Meara et al, 2017). HSP90 is an essential component of cytoplasmic chaperone network HSP70-HSP90 responsible for protein folding.…”

Extracellular Vesicles From Sporothrix brasiliensis Are an Important Virulence Factor That Induce an Increase in Fungal Burden in Experimental Sporotrichosis

“…Heat shock proteins, described to be involved in the process of transition from mycelium to yeast in thermodimorphic fungi, such as Histoplasma sp. and Paracoccidioides sp., have great importance in adaptation to the host ( Nimrichter et al, 2016 ; Cleare et al, 2017 ). Heat shock proteins have also been proven to be fundamental in the relationship between C. neoformans and cells in the immune system ( Silveira et al, 2013 ).…”

Comparison of the RNA Content of Extracellular Vesicles Derived from Paracoccidioides brasiliensis and Paracoccidioides lutzii

“…We have here detected active mRNA within Paracoccidioides EVs and we can envision that they might be uptaken by other neighboring or distant fungal cells and play a role in the host-fungal relationship by delivering virulence transcripts. Table 1 includes, for e.g., heat shock proteins like Hsp 70 (PAAG_08003, in Pb01 EVs) and Hsp 90-like (PADG_07715, in Pb18 EVs) that have a role in virulence of dimorphic fungi [40].…”