Pneumococcus
Research Lines
Content with Investigacion .
Nuevos antifúngicos y aspergilosis crónicas.
Epidemiología, resistencia y actividad de nuevos antifúngicos
El conocimiento de la epidemiología y la tasa de resistencia a los antifúngicos es esencial para un manejo adecuado de los pacientes y una estrategia de detección y diagnostico apropiada. La resistencia a los antimicrobianos es hoy una de las mayores amenazas para la salud mundial siendo el desarrollo y comercialización de nuevos compuestos una de las prioridades del sector de la salud. Se han realizado en colaboración con centros del Sistema Nacional de Salud varios estudios poblacionales, con el fin de conocer la epidemiología de los hongos filamentosos en España y la tasa de resistencia a los antifúngicos. Se ha encontrado que más de un 10% de las infecciones por hongos filamentosos están producidas por especies crípticas que suelen ser más resistentes a los antifúngicos. En los últimos años han aparecido varios compuestos con capacidad antifúngica que están en diferentes fases de desarrollo, en nuestro grupo se ensayan estos nuevos compuestos frente a los principales géneros de especies patógenas, incluyendo las especies crípticas multiresistentes.
Aspergilosis Pulmonar Crónica y Aspergilosis Broncopulmonar alérgica
Estas enfermedades ocurren generalmente en personas inmunocompetentes. La incidencia de estas enfermedades es prácticamente desconocida. La ausencia de un diagnóstico apropiado y del tratamiento óptimo complica el manejo de estos pacientes. Varios estudios han documentado la presencia de cepas multiresistentes en estos pacientes, debido a tratamiento prolongados. En esta línea se está trabajando en mejorar el algoritmo diagnóstico de estas enfermedades, así como analizar la epidemiología de las especies aisladas en estas infecciones y la influencia de cambios en el micobioma pulmonar y ambiental.
Enfermedades fúngicas y Salud global
Muchos países de renta media y baja se encuentran en zonas de alta incidencia de hongos, sin embargo, tienen menos herramientas y capacidad diagnóstica para manejarlas. Con el fin de conocer la incidencia de las infecciones oportunistas por hongos y disminuir la muerte asociada a las mismas en pacientes que viven con VIH en Guatemala y en colaboración con el Fondo de acción Global para las infecciones fúngicas (GAFFI), se ha desarrollado una red de unidades de atención integral al sida e implementado un laboratorio central de diagnóstico, que hace de referencia para el diagnóstico en varias infecciones oportunistas. Se ha hecho un estudio de cohortes incluyendo a más de 2500 pacientes HIV+ con un seguimiento de un año. Se han tamizado las principales infecciones fúngicas en este grupo de pacientes permitiendo el acceso al diagnóstico y al tratamiento de las mismas en la mayor parte del país y consiguiendo una disminución de mortalidad en un año del 7%.
Research projects
Content with Investigacion .
1. Relación ambiente-micobioma en pacientes con asma grave. Implicación en el desarrollo de enfermedad y estudio de posibles medidas de prevención hacia la medicina personalizada. Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias. IP: Ana Alastruey-Izquierdo. Fechas: 2021-2023
2. MixInYest: a multicenter survey on mixed yeast infections in Europe. ESCMID IP: Ana Alastruey-Izquierdo. Fechas: 2018-2021
3. Micobioma de muestras respiratorias: desarrollo de base de datos de comparación, estandarización, caracterización y estudio de su influencia en la evolución de enfermedad. Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias IP: Ana Alastruey-Izquierdo. Fechas: 2017-2021
4. Minimising HIV deaths through rapid fungal diagnosis and better care in Guatemala. Funding Global Action Fund for Fungal Infections and JYLAG. IP: Ana Alastruey-Izquierdo and Juan Luis Rodríguez-Tudela. Fechas: 2015-2020
5. CPAepi: CPAepi: Epidemiology of Aspergillus strains isolated from patients suffering of CPA. European Confederation of Medical Mycology (ECMM). IP: Ana Alastruey-Izquierdo. Fechas: 2019-2020
6. In vitro activity of SCY-078 and comparators against clinical isolates of Aspergillus spp. Scynexis. IP: Ana Alastruey-Izquierdo. Fechas: 2018-2019
7. In vitro activity of F901318 and comparators against clinical isolates of clinical isolates of Scedosporium and Lomentospora. F2G LTD. IP: Ana Alastruey-Izquierdo. Fechas: 2017-2018
8. In vitro activity of F901318 and comparators against clinical isolates of clinical isolates of cryptic species of Aspergillus. Funding: F2G LTD. IP: Ana Alastruey-Izquierdo. Fechas: 2016-2017
9. In vitro activity of APX001A and comparators against clinical isolates of clinical isolates of rare moulds. Ana Alastruey-Izquierdo. Fechas: 2016-2017
10. Population-Based Prospective Surveillance on Triazole Resistance in Aspergillus and other moulds in Spain (FILPOP_2 study). GILEAD Sciences. Ana Alastruey-Izquierdo and Manuel Cuenca Estrella. Fechas: 2015-2017
11. Estudio epidemiológico de las resistencias a los antifúngicos mediante secuenciación genómica y análisis bioinformático para el diseño de técnicas diagnosticas útiles en laboratorios clínicos (2014-2017). Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias Ana Alastruey-Izquierdo. Fechas: 2014-2017
Publications
Toll-like receptor signaling-deficient cells enhance antitumor activity of cell-based immunotherapy by increasing tumor homing
A. Morales-Molina, M.A. Rodríguez-Milla, S,. Gambera, T. Cejalvo, B. de Andrés M.L. Gaspar, J. Garcia-Castro. Cancer Res Commun 2023 Mar 1;3(3):347-360. eCollection 2023 Mar
PUBMED DOIImmune stress suppresses innate immune signaling in preleukemic precursor B-cells to provoke leukemia in predisposed mice
Isidro-Hernández M, Casado-García A, Oak N, Alemán-Arteaga S, Ruiz-Corzo B, Martínez-Cano J, Mayado A, G. Sánchez E, Blanco O, Gaspar ML, Orfao A, Alonso-López D, De las Rivas J, Riesco S, Prieto-Matos P, González-Murilo A, García Criado FJ, García Cenador MB, Ramírez-Orellana M, De Andrés B, Vicente-Dueñas C, Cobaleda C, Nichols KE, Sánchez-García I. Nat Commun 2023 Aug 24;14(1):5159.
PUBMED DOIRole of Toll-like receptor 4 in intravascular hemolisis-mediated injury
Vázquez-Carballo C, Herencia C, Guerrero-Hue M, García-Caballero C, Rayego-Mateos S, Morgado-Pascual JL, Opazo-Rios L, González-Guerrero C, Vallejo-Mudarra M, Cortegano I, Gaspar ML, de Andrés B, Egido J, Moreno JA. J Pathol. 2022 Nov; 258(3): 236–249.
PUBMED DOIAge-dependent nasal immune responses in non-hospitalized bronchiolitis children
Cortegano I, Rodríguez M, Hernángómez S, Arrabal A, Garcia-Vao C, Rodríguez J, Sandra Fernández S, Díaz J, de la Rosa B, Solís B, Arribas C, Garrido F, Zaballos A, Roa S, López V, Gaspar ML, de Andrés B. Front Immunol 2022 Dec 6:13:1011607.
PUBMED DOIToll-like receptors in acute kidney injury
Vázquez-Carballo C, Guerrero-Hue M, García Caballero C, Rayego-Mateos S, Opazo-Rios L, Morgado-Pascual JL, Herencia-Bellido C, Vallejo-Mudarra M, Cortegano I, Gaspar ML, de Andrés B, Egido J, Moreno-Gutiérrez JA. Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Jan; 22(2): 816.
PUBMED DOIThe TLR4-MyD88 Signaling Regulates Lung Monocyte Differentiation Pathways in Response to Streptococcus pneumoniae
Sánchez-Tarjuelo R, Cortegano I, Manosalva J, Rodríguez M, Ruiz C, Alía M, Prado MC, Cano EM, Ferrándiz MJ, de la Campa A, Gaspar ML, de Andrés B. Front Immunol 2020 Sep 16:11:2120.
PUBMED DOINrf2 plays a protective role against intravascular hemolysis-mediated acute kidney injury.
Rubio-Navarro A, Vázquez-Carballo C, Guerrero-Hue M, García-Caballero C, Herencia C, Gutierrez E, Yuste C, Sevillano A, Praga M, Egea J, Cannata P, Cortegano I, de Andrés B, Gaspar ML, Cadenas S, Michalska P, León R, Ortiz, A, Egido J, Moreno JA. Front Pharmacol. 2019; 10: 740.
PUBMED DOIPodocytes as new cellular targets of hemoglobin toxicity in massive intravascular hemolysis.
Rubio-Navarro A, Sanchez-Niño MD, Guerrero-Hue M, García-Caballero C, Gutiérrez E, Yuste C, Sevillano A, Praga M, Egea J, Román E, Cannata P, Ortega R, Cortegano I, de Andrés B, Gaspar ML, Cadenas S, Ortiz A, Egido J, Moreno JA. Podocytes as new cellular targets of hemoglobin toxicity in massive intravascular hemolysis. 2018. J.Pathol. 244(3):296-310.
PUBMED DOISpatially-restricted JAG1-Notch signaling in the human thymus provides permissive microenvironments for dendritic cell development.
Martín Gayo, E., González-García, S., García-León, M., Murcia-Ceballos, A., Alcain, J., García-Peydró, M., Allende, L., de Andrés, B., Gaspar, ML. and Toribio, ML. J.Exp.Med. (2017) 214:3361-3379
PUBMED DOIThe formation of titan cells in Cryptococcus neoformans depends on the mouse strain and correlates with induction of Th2-type responses
García-Barbazán, I., Trevijano-Contador, N., Rueda, C., de Andrés, B., Pérez-Tavárez, R., Herrero-Fernández, I., Gaspar ML., and Zaragoza, O. Cellular Microbiology (2015) 18:111-124
PUBMED DOIRoles of the multiplex real-time PCR assay and β-D-glucan in a high-risk population for intra-abdominal candidiasis (IAC)
Fortún J, Buitrago MJ, Gioia F, Gómez-Gª de la Pedrosa E, Alvarez ME, Martín-Dávila P, Pintado V, Cobeta P, Martinez-Castro N, Soriano C, Moreno I, Corral S, Muñoz P, Moreno-Jimenez G, Cuenca-Estrella M, Moreno-Guillen S. Med Mycol. 2020 Aug 1;58(6):789-796.
PUBMED DOIEuropean collaborative evaluation of the Enzygnost HBsAg 6.0 assay: performance on hepatitis B virus surface antigen variants
• Avellón A, Echevarría JM, Weber B, Weik M, Schobel U, Willems WR, Gerlich WH. European collaborative evaluation of the Enzygnost HBsAg 6.0 assay: performance on hepatitis B virus surface antigen variants. J Med Virol. 2011 Jan;83(1):95-100.
PUBMED DOIPrevalence of pSCFS7-like vectors among cfr-positive staphylococcal population in Spain.
Prevalence of pSCFS7-like vectors among cfr-positive staphylococcal population in Spain. Nguyen LTT*, Román F*, Morikawa K, Trincado P, Marcos C, Rojo-Martín MD, Cafini F. Int J Antimicrob Agents. 2018 Aug;52(2):305-306.
PUBMED DOIZoonotic pathogens in fluctuating common vole (Microtus arvalis) populations: occurrence and dynamics
Rodriguez-Pastor, Ruth; Escudero, Raquel; Lambin, Xavier; Vidal, M Dolors; Gil, Horacio; Jado, Isabel; Rodriguez-Vargas, Manuela; Luque-Larena, Juan Jose; Mougeot, Francois. Zoonotic pathogens in fluctuating common vole (Microtus arvalis) populations: occurrence and dynamics. Parasitology. pp. 1 - 10. 24/09/2018.
PUBMED DOILong-range dispersal moved Francisella tularensis into Western Europe from the East
Dwibedi, Chinmay; Birdsell, Dawn; Larkeryd, Adrian; Myrtennas, Kerstin; Ohrman, Caroline; Nilsson, Elin; Karlsson, Edvin; Hochhalter, Christian; Rivera, Andrew; Maltinsky, Sara; Bayer, Brittany; Keim, Paul; Scholz, Holger C; Tomaso, Herbert; Wittwer, Matthias; Beuret, Christian; Schuerch, Nadia; Pilo, Paola; Hernandez Perez, Marta; Rodriguez-Lazaro, David; Escudero, Raquel; Anda, Pedro; Forsman, Mats; Wagner, David M; Larsson, Par; Johansson, Anders. Long-range dispersal moved Francisella tularensis into Western Europe from the East. Microbial genomics. 2 - 12, pp. e000100. 01/01/2016.
PUBMED DOIFrancisella species in ticks and animals, Iberian Peninsula
Lopes de Carvalho, I.; Toledo, A.; Carvalho, C. L.; Barandika, J. F.; Respicio-Kingry, L. B.; Garcia-Amil, C.; Garcia-Perez, A. L.; Olmeda, A. S.; Ze-Ze, L.; Petersen, J. M.; Anda, P.; Nuncio, M. S.; Escudero, R. Francisella species in ticks and animals, Iberian Peninsula. Ticks and Tick-Borne Diseases. 7 - 1, pp. 159 - 165. Elsevier GMBH, Urban & Fischer Verlag, 01/01/2016.
PUBMED DOIStable levels of Coxiella burnetii prevalence in dairy sheep flocks but changes in genotype distribution after a 10-year period in northern Spain
Álvarez-Alonso R, Barandika JF, Ruiz-Fons F, Ortega-Araiztegi I, Jado I, Hurtado A, García-Pérez AL. Stable levels of Coxiella burnetii prevalence in dairy sheep flocks but changes in genotype distribution after a 10-year period in northern Spain. Acta Vet Scand. 2018 Nov 20;60(1):75.
PUBMED DOIEvidence for Suppression of Onchocerciasis Transmission in Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea
Moya L, Herrador Z, Ta-Tang TH, Rubio JM, Perteguer MJ, Hernandez-González A, García B, Nguema R, Nguema J, Ncog P, Garate T, Benito A, Sima A and Aparicio P. Evidence for Suppression of Onchocerciasis Transmission in Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea.PLoS Negl Trop Dis, 2016; 10(7): e0004829.
PUBMED DOILAMP kit for diagnosis of non-falciparum malaria in Plasmodium ovale infected patients
Cuadros J, Martin Ramírez A, González IJ, Ding XC, Perez Tanoira R, Rojo-Marcos G, Gómez-Herruz P, Rubio JM. LAMP kit for diagnosis of non-falciparum malaria in Plasmodium ovale infected patients. Malar J. 2017 Jan 7;16(1):20.
PUBMED DOIPlasmodium species differentiation by non-expert on-line volunteers for remote malaria field diagnosis
Ortiz-Ruiz A, Postigo M, Gil-Casanova S, Cuadrado D, Bautista JM, Rubio JM, Luengo-Oroz M, Linares M. Plasmodium species differentiation by non-expert on-line volunteers for remote malaria field diagnosis. Malar J. 2018 Jan 30;17(1):54.
PUBMED DOIStudy of the diagnostic accuracy of microbiological techniques in the diagnosis of malaria in the immigrant population in Madrid
Martín-Díaz A, Rubio JM, Herrero-Martínez JM, Lizasoain M, Ruiz-Giardin JM, Jaqueti J, Cuadros J, Rojo-Marcos G, Martín-Rabadán P, Calderón M, Campelo C, Velasco M, Pérez-Ayala A. Study of the diagnostic accuracy of microbiological techniques in the diagnosis of malaria in the immigrant population in Madrid. Malar J. 2018 Aug 29;17(1):314.
PUBMED DOIpective comparative multi-centre study on imported Plasmodium ovale wallikeri and Plasmodium ovale curtisi infections.
Rojo-Marcos G, Rubio-Muñoz JM, Angheben A, Jaureguiberry S, García-Bujalance S, Tomasoni LR, Rodríguez-Valero N, Ruiz-Giardín JM, Salas-Coronas J, Cuadros-González J, García-Rodríguez M, Molina-Romero I, López-Vélez R, Gobbi F, Calderón-Moreno M, Martin-Echevarría E, Elía-López M, Llovo-Taboada J; TropNet Plasmodium ovale investigator group. Prospective comparative multi-centre study on imported Plasmodium ovale wallikeri and Plasmodium ovale curtisi infections. Malar J. 2018 Oct 30;17(1):399.
PUBMED DOIImported and autochthonous malaria in West Saudi Arabia: results from a reference hospital
Soliman RH, Garcia-Aranda P, Elzagawy SM, Hussein BE, Mayah WW, Martin Ramirez A, Ta-Tang TH, Rubio JM. Imported and autochthonous malaria in West Saudi Arabia: results from a reference hospital. Malar J. 2018 Aug 7;17(1):286.
PUBMED DOICryptosporidium hominis genotypes involved in increased incidence and clusters of cases, Navarra, Spain, 2012.
Fuentes, I., Martín, C., Beristain, X; Mazón,A, Saugar, JM, Blanco, A; García M, Cenoz, Valle-Cristia, Ezpeleta, C., Castilla, J. 2015. Cryptosporidium hominis genotypes involved in increased incidence and clusters of cases, Navarra, Spain, 2012. Epidemiology and Infection; 143:1033-6
PUBMED DOIMolecular genotyping of Giardia duodenalis isolates from symptomatic individuals attending two major public hospitals in Madrid, Spain.
Lucio A, Martínez-Ruiz R, Merino FJ, Bailo B, Aguilera M, Fuentes I, Carmena D. 2015. Molecular genotyping of Giardia duodenalis isolates from symptomatic individuals attending two major public hospitals in Madrid, Spain. PLoS One. 10 (12): e0143981.
PUBMED DOIOccurrence and subtype distribution of Blastocystis sp. in humans, dogs, and cats sharing household in northern Spain and assessment of zoonotic transmission risk.
Paulos S, Köster PC, de Lucio A, Hernández-de-Mingo M, Cardona GA, Fernández-Crespo JC, Stensvold RC, Carmena D. 2018. Occurrence and subtype distribution of Blastocystis sp. in humans, dogs, and cats sharing household in northern Spain and assessment of zoonotic transmission risk. Zoonoses and Public Health, 65:993-1002.
PUBMED DOIContent with Investigacion .
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Ana Alastruey Izquierdo
Research Scientist
ORCID code: 0000-0001-8651-4405
Doctor in microbiology from the Complutense University of Madrid and Master in Bioinformatics and computational biology from the same university. He completed his doctoral thesis at the ISCIII under the supervision of Dr. Juan Luis Rodríguez Tudela in molecular identification of human pathogenic fungi. He carried out research stays in Holland (Fungal Biodiversity Center, CBS-Knaw, Utrecht) and Austria (Austrian Institute of Technology). In 2010-2011 he joined Dr. David Perlin's group as a postdoctoral fellow at the Public Health Research Institute of Rutgers University in the United States working on antifungal resistance. In 2012 and 2013 he carried out research stays at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI). Since 2014 he has been a Senior Scientist at the ISCIII.
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Laura Alguacil Cuéllar
PhD student (pFIS)
ORCID code: 0000-0002-7362-0214
Graduated in Biology from the Rey Juan Carlos University, she completed the Master's Degree in Microbiology and Parasitology: Research and Development from the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) and is an expert in Research Methodology and Evidence-Based Clinical Practice from the Miguel de Cervantes European University. For two years he was a research assistant in the Microbiology department of the Faculty of Pharmacy at the UCM thanks to a CM Young Employment Scholarship. In 2023 he joined ISCIII with a pFIS predoctoral contract under the direction of Dr. Ana Alastruey Izquierdo.
List of staff
Additional Information
The Pneumococcus Unit is in charge of two very important aspects related to pneumococcus infections, such as epidemiological surveillance and basic and translational research of diseases caused by this pathogen. Our unit contributes to the epidemiological surveillance of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD), characterizing the serotypes and genotypes of invasive pneumococci circulating in Spain, as well as the evolution of antibiotic resistance in this pathogen.
Identification of culture-negative samples (CSF and pleural fluids) is performed using real-time PCR. Serotyping is performed using the Dot-blot and PCR-sequencing technique. Genotyping for the study of outbreaks and characterization of clones associated with hypervirulent and/or multiresistant strains is performed using the MLST technique and the analysis of complete genomes by massive sequencing. In addition, antibiotic susceptibility is determined following the EUCAST criteria.
Our unit belongs to the IBD-labnet network of the ECDC and annually notifies all cases of IPD to the ECDC and also to the IRIS (Invasive Respiratory Infection Surveillance) network. At the level of basic and translational research, our unit is responsible for studying and characterizing different molecular mechanisms of pathogenicity and protection related to pneumococcal infection. Among the main objectives are the molecular characterization of virulence factors, the study of different vaccine candidate proteins and determining the possible impact that tobacco smoke and the formation of biofilms have on the colonization of the respiratory tract.
The Pneumococcus Unit is in charge of two very important aspects related to pneumococcus infections, such as epidemiological surveillance and basic and translational research of diseases caused by this pathogen. Our unit contributes to the epidemiological surveillance of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD), characterizing the serotypes and genotypes of invasive pneumococci circulating in Spain, as well as the evolution of antibiotic resistance in this pathogen.
Identification of culture-negative samples (CSF and pleural fluids) is performed using real-time PCR. Serotyping is performed using the Dot-blot and PCR-sequencing technique. Genotyping for the study of outbreaks and characterization of clones associated with hypervirulent and/or multiresistant strains is performed using the MLST technique and the analysis of complete genomes by massive sequencing. In addition, antibiotic susceptibility is determined following the EUCAST criteria.
Our unit belongs to the IBD-labnet network of the ECDC and annually notifies all cases of IPD to the ECDC and also to the IRIS (Invasive Respiratory Infection Surveillance) network. At the level of basic and translational research, our unit is responsible for studying and characterizing different molecular mechanisms of pathogenicity and protection related to pneumococcal infection. Among the main objectives are the molecular characterization of virulence factors, the study of different vaccine candidate proteins and determining the possible impact that tobacco smoke and the formation of biofilms have on the colonization of the respiratory tract.