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Publication Abstract from PubMed

New strategies are urgently needed to counter the threat to human health posed by drug-resistant fungi. To explore an as-yet unexploited target space for antifungals, we screened a library of protein kinase inhibitors for the ability to reverse resistance of the most common human fungal pathogen, Candida albicans, to caspofungin, a widely used antifungal. This screen identified multiple 2,3-aryl-pyrazolopyridine scaffold compounds capable of restoring caspofungin sensitivity. Using chemical genomic, biochemical, and structural approaches, we established the target for our most potent compound as Yck2, a casein kinase 1 family member. Combination of this compound with caspofungin eradicated drug-resistant C. albicans infection while sparing co-cultured human cells. In mice, genetic depletion of YCK2 caused an approximately 3-log10 decline in fungal burden in a model of systemic caspofungin-resistant C. albicans infection. Structural insights and our tool compound's profile in culture support targeting the Yck2 kinase function as a broadly active antifungal strategy.

Overcoming Fungal Echinocandin Resistance through Inhibition of the Non-essential Stress Kinase Yck2.,Caplan T, Lorente-Macias A, Stogios PJ, Evdokimova E, Hyde S, Wellington MA, Liston S, Iyer KR, Puumala E, Shekhar-Guturja T, Robbins N, Savchenko A, Krysan DJ, Whitesell L, Zuercher WJ, Cowen LE Cell Chem Biol. 2020 Mar 19;27(3):269-282.e5. doi:, 10.1016/j.chembiol.2019.12.008. Epub 2020 Jan 7. PMID:31924499^[1]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.