Using a natural blood defence to fight deadly fungal infections

Coral Barbas

Fundación Universitaria San Pablo-CEU, Spain

Mucormycosis is a severe fungal infection that mainly affects people with weakened health or metabolic disorders. The infection is often fatal, partly because current treatments remain limited and partly because the mechanisms of the disease are not fully understood. Recent research suggests that albumin, a major blood protein, may provide a natural defence against mucormycosis by carrying fats that stop fungal growth. However, low albumin levels or altered fats may weaken protection. This project will investigate how albumin defence works and whether restoring it could help prevent or treat the infection.

The researchers will study how albumin affects the fungi and the immune response, and whether increasing albumin levels could improve protection in people at risk. A team combining expertise in fungal infections, metabolism, immunology and clinical research will explore the therapeutic potential of this approach.

The findings could help improve diagnosis in high-risk populations and pave the way to safer treatments relying on the body’s own defences. Ultimately, the project may improve outcomes for people affected by mucormycosis, a devastating and increasingly important infection.

• Agostinho Carvalho, Universidade do Minho, Portugal

• Georgios Chamilos, Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas, Greece

• Victoriano Garre, Universidad de Murcia, Spain

• Johan Maertens, KU Leuven, Belgium

Harnessing a novel Albumin-Regulated Metabolic defense pathway to improve Outcome of Mucormycosis

€996,078.82