Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:3.4.24.3 (collagenase)
 18,340 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Tinea capitis remains an overwhelmingly prevalent disease in children. Despite the fact that it was described over a century ago, disease pathogenesis remains incompletely characterized. This investigation was designed to evaluate whether inter-strain variability in fungal protease expression for clinical Trichophyton tonsurans isolates correlates with disease severity. Children with tinea capitis were enrolled and a clinical severity score (CSS) determined for all subjects by grading eight symptoms on a 4-point scale. Fungal specimens were collected by brush culture, placed in aqueous medium and incubated at 32 degrees C for 5 days. The culture supernatant was lyophilized and aliquots used to characterize protease activity. Enzyme activity, normalized to total soluble protein, varied 550-fold, 150-fold and 6-fold for collagenase, elastase and keratinase, respectively. A significant decrease in elastase and collagenase activity was observed with increasing duration of infection. In one-half of the children, CSS increased in direct response to collagenase and elastase production, while CSS was independent of enzyme activity in the remaining children. The relationship between enzyme activity and time course of disease are consistent with theories on enzyme regulation in dermatophytoses; however, the finding that two potential subsets of children exist with varied response to fungal antigens has yet to be described.
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PMID:Trichophyton tonsurans exocellular protease expression: correlation with clinical presentation in tinea capitis. 1213 66

Trichophyton tonsurans infections occur in various host populations, on various body sites and with varying degrees of inflammation. This investigation was undertaken to determine whether fungal factors could explain the degree of severity in clinical symptomatology among infected children. Otherwise healthy children (n=54) presenting with tinea capitis were enrolled in this study. A thorough history was performed, the extent and severity of infection graded and a fungal specimen collected from each child. Strain type was determined by genotyping for 11 sequence variations in the rDNA and ALP1 loci. Secreted protease activity was quantitated after 5 days of growth in aqueous medium. Forty participants were evaluable. Infection duration ranged from 1 day to 3 years and clinical severity score (CSS) from 4-19. Seventeen unique fungal genotypes were present. Keratinase, collagenase and elastase activity varied 32.7-fold, 64.9-fold and 303.3-fold, respectively. A significant association was observed between genotype and disease severity with the rDNA sequence variations accounting for over 50% of the variation observed in CSS (r2=0.539; P<0.001). Phylogenetic analyses appear to suggest that the ancestral strain types of T. tonsurans cause more severe disease. These observations are consistent with reports that recently diverge anthropophilies are associated with diminished inflammatory involvement.
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PMID:Examining Trichophyton tonsurans genotype and biochemical phenotype as determinants of disease severity in tinea capitis. 1840 49