Rex, J. H., Pfaller, M. A., Galgiani, J. N., Bartlett, M. S., EspinelIngroff, A., Ghannoum, M. A., Lancaster, M., Odds, F. C., Rinaldi, M. G., Walsh, T. J., & Barry, A. L. (1997). Development of interpretive breakpoints for antifungal susceptibility testing: Conceptual framework and analysis of in vitro in vivo correlation data for fluconazole, itraconazole, and Candida infections. CLINICAL INFECTIOUS DISEASES, 24(2), 235-247.
Wack, E. E., Ampel, N. M., Sunenshine, R. H., & Galgiani, J. N. (2015). The Return of Delayed-Type Hypersensitivity Skin Testing for Coccidioidomycosis. Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, 61(5), 787-91.
A skin test that detects dermal hypersensitivity in persons with past infection with Coccidioides species is again available for clinical use. Nearly all of the clinical studies with similar materials were published prior to the 1990s, and as a result, many practicing physicians will be unfamiliar with how skin testing for coccidioidomycosis might be useful in patient management or as a research tool. We review clinical and epidemiological studies with past skin test antigens, the composition of past and current skin test preparations with particular attention to differences in the preservatives, and how the current preparation could be used today.
Abuodeh, R. O., Galgiani, J. N., & Scalarone, G. M. (2002). Molecular approaches to the study of Coccidioides immitis. International journal of medical microbiology : IJMM, 292(5-6), 373-80.
The study of the molecular biology of Coccidioides sp. is only just beginning. As the importance of coccidioidomycosis grows as a public health problem, our need for understanding of pathogenesis, immune responses, and improved antifungal therapy also increases in proportion. Tools have now become available to study gene manipulation in this pathogen and this will allow molecular approaches to be used. Genetic experiments will also be accelerated by the availability of the whole coccidioidal genome, expected to be made public in the spring of 2003 (see http://www.tigr.org/tdb/tgi/cigi/GenInfo.html). Thus, there seems to be several reasons to expect considerable progress in the coming years.
Kellner, E. M., Orsborn, K. I., Siegel, E. M., Mandel, M. A., Orbach, M. J., & Galgiani, J. N. (2005). Coccidioides posadasii contains a single 1,3-beta-glucan synthase gene that appears to be essential for growth. Eukaryotic cell, 4(1), 111-20.
1,3-beta-Glucan synthase is responsible for the synthesis of beta-glucan, an essential cell wall structural component in most fungi. We sought to determine whether Coccidioides posadasii possesses genes homologous to known fungal FKS genes that encode the catalytic subunit of 1,3-beta-glucan synthase. A single gene, designated FKS1, was identified, and examination of its predicted protein product showed a high degree of conservation with Fks proteins from other filamentous fungi. FKS1 is expressed at similar levels in mycelia and early spherulating cultures, and expression decreases as the spherules mature. We used Agrobacterium-mediated transformation to create strains that harbor DeltaFKS1::hygB, a null allele of FKS1, and hypothesize that Fks1p function is essential, due to our inability to purify this allele away from a complementing wild-type FKS1 allele in a heterokaryotic strain. The heterokaryon appears normal with respect to growth rate and arthroconidium production; however, microscopic examination of strains with DeltaFKS1::hygB alleles revealed abnormal swelling of hyphal elements.
Shubitz, L. F., Yu, J., Hung, C., Kirkland, T. N., Peng, T., Perrill, R., Simons, J., Xue, J., Herr, R. A., Cole, G. T., & Galgiani, J. N. (2006). Improved protection of mice against lethal respiratory infection with Coccidioides posadasii using two recombinant antigens expressed as a single protein. Vaccine, 24(31-32), 5904-11.
Two recombinant antigens which individually protect mice from lethal intranasal infection were studied in combination, either as a mixture of two separately expressed proteins or as a single chimeric expression product. Mice vaccinated with either combination survived longer than mice given single antigens. Immunized mice also exhibited specific IgG immunoglobulins and yielded splenocytes which produced interferon-gamma in response to either antigen. The chimeric antigen has the practical advantage of offering enhanced protection from multiple components without increasing production costs.