ArticleCell host & microbe2013
Cryptococcus neoformans copper detoxification machinery is critical for fungal virulence.
Article in Cell host & microbe, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 113 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
113 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 177 citations in OpenAlex.
- Gut microbiota bridges dietary nutrients and host immunity.Science China. Life sciences · 2023Pooled it
- A cysteine-rich domain of themBio · 2026Article
- Identification of two metallothioneins in Agaricus crocodilinus reveals gene duplication and domain expansion, a pattern conserved across fungal species.Biometals : an international journal on the role of metal ions in biology, biochemistry, and medicine · 2025Article
- Studying Human Pathogenic Cryptococcus Gattii Lineages by Utilizing Simple Sequence Repeats to Create Diagnostic Markers and Analyzing Diversity.Biochemical genetics · 2025Article
- An Introduction to the Influence of Nutritional Factors on the Pathogenesis of Opportunist Fungal Pathogens in Humans.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Cryptococcal nutrient acquisition and pathogenesis: dining on the host.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2025Review
- FpnA, the Aspergillus fumigatus homolog of human ferroportin, mediates resistance to nickel, cobalt and gallium but does not function in iron homeostasis.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Comparative genomics reveals putative copper tolerance genes in a Fusarium oxysporum strain.G3 (Bethesda, Md.) · 2025Article
- Metals at the Host-Fungal Pathogen Battleground.Annual review of microbiology · 2024Review
- Role of cuproptosis in mediating the severity of experimental malaria-associated acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome.Parasites & vectors · 2024Article
- Manipulation of host phagocytosis by fungal pathogens and therapeutic opportunities.Nature microbiology · 2024Review
- Antimicrobial and Virus Adsorption Properties of Y-Zeolite Exchanged with Silver and Zinc Cations.ACS omega · 2024Article
- The Transcription Factor SsZNC1 Mediates Virulence, Sclerotial Development, and Osmotic Stress Response inJournal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Measuring Stress Phenotypes in Cryptococcus neoformans.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2024Article
- Assessment of DNA extraction methods for human gut mycobiome analysis.Royal Society open science · 2024Article
- Insights into copper sensing and tolerance inFrontiers in microbiology · 2024Article
- Copper homeostasis dysregulation in respiratory diseases: a review of current knowledge.Frontiers in physiology · 2024Review
- Microglia are not protective against cryptococcal meningitis.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Kicking sleepers out of bed: Macrophages promote reactivation of dormant Cryptococcus neoformans by extracellular vesicle release and non-lytic exocytosis.PLoS pathogens · 2023Article
- How metals fuel fungal virulence, yet promote anti-fungal immunity.Disease models & mechanisms · 2023Review
53 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Copper (Cu) is an essential metal that is toxic at high concentrations. Thus, pathogens often rely on host Cu for growth, but host cells can hyperaccumulate Cu to exert antimicrobial effects. The human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans encodes many Cu-responsive genes, but their role in infection is unclear. We determined that pulmonary C. neoformans infection results in Cu-specific induction of genes encoding the Cu-detoxifying metallothionein (Cmt) proteins. Mutant strains lacking CMTs or expressing Cmt variants defective in Cu-coordination exhibit severely attenuated virulence and reduced pulmonary colonization. Consistent with the upregulation of Cmt proteins, C. neoformans pulmonary infection results in increased serum Cu concentrations and increases and decreases alveolar macrophage expression of the Cu importer (Ctr1) and ATP7A, a transporter implicated in phagosomal Cu compartmentalization, respectively. These studies indicate that the host mobilizes Cu as an innate antifungal defense but C. neoformans senses and neutralizes toxic Cu to promote infection.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.