Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Nigrospora oryzae Pulmonary Infection in a Bronchogenic Cancer: an Opportunistic Invader?

  • Medicine
  • Published:
SN Comprehensive Clinical Medicine Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The genus Nigrospora is a cosmopolitan dematiaceous ascomycetes fungus which inhabits the soil and includes both entomopathogenic and phytopathogenic properties. Among the evolving species of Nigrospora, the frequently isolated are Nigrospora sphaerica (N. sphaerica) and Nigrospora oryzae (N. oryzae). N. sphaerica has been implicated in human infections like corneal ulcer, onychomycosis, respiratory allergies, deep mycoses, and skin infections in both immunocompetent and immunocompromised individuals, whereas N. oryzae is an established plant pathogen and the only reported human association is its isolation from human superficial skin scrapings. Here, we report a case of pulmonary infection by N. oryzae in a 55-year-old male with a neoplasm of squamous cell origin and diffuse skeletal metastasis. Bronchoalveolar lavage and biopsies of lung tissue demonstrated branching septate hyphae and extensive tumor necrosis and malignant cells, respectively. Fungal culture and molecular sequencing established N. oryzae as the etiological agent. The patient was treated with itraconazole and palliative radiotherapy. Due to the poor compliance and unfavorable effects of treatments, the patient opted for alternative therapies and succumbed due to ongoing invasive pathogenesis. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first communication describing a dematiaceous mold N. oryzae causing opportunistic pulmonary infection in a lung neoplasm along with antifungal susceptibility data against seven antifungal drugs using the reference CLSI method.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

References

  1. Douglas A, Chen S, Slavin M. Emerging infections caused by non-Aspergillus filamentous fungi. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2016;8:670–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmi.2016.01.011.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Castro AS, Oliveira A, Lopes V. Pulmonary phaeohyphomycosis: a challenge to the clinician. Eur Respir Rev. 2013;22(128):187–8. https://doi.org/10.1183/09059180.00007512.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Fothergill AW. Identification of Dematiaceous fungi and their role in human disease. Clin Infect Dis. 1996;22(Supplement_2):S179–84. https://doi.org/10.1093/clinids/22.Supplement_2.S179.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Ananya TS, Kindo AJ, Subramanian A, Suresh K. Nigrospora sphaerica causing corneal ulcer in an immunocompetent woman: a case report. Int J Case Rep Images. 2014;10:675–9.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Fan Y, Huang W, Li W, Zhang G. Onychomycosis caused by Nigrospora sphaerica in an immunocompetent man. Arch Dermatol. 2009;145(5):611–2. https://doi.org/10.1001/archdermatol.2009.80.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Muralidhar S, Sulthana M. Nigrospora causing corneal ulcer--a case report. Indian J Pathol Microbiol. 1997;40(4):549–1.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Motswaledi HM, Pillay RT. An unusual deep fungal infection with Nigrospora sphaerica in HIV positive patient. Int J Dermatol. 2019 Mar;58(3):333–5. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijd.14283.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Wang M, Liu F, Crous PW, Cai L. Phylogenetic reassessment of Nigrospora: ubiquitous endophytes, plant and human pathogens. Persoonia. 2017;39:118–42. https://doi.org/10.3767/persoonia.2017.39.06.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Sharma P, Meena PD, Chauhan JS. First report of Nigrospora oryzae (Berk. & Broome) petch causing stem blight on Brassica juncea in India. J Phytopathol. 2013;161:439–41. https://doi.org/10.1111/jph.12081.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Yew SM, Chan CL, Lee KW, et al. A five-year survey of dematiaceous fungi in a tropical hospital reveals potential opportunistic species. PLoS One. 2014;9(8):e104352. Published 2014 Aug 6. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0104352.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. CLSI, editor. Reference method for broth dilution antifungal susceptibility testing of filamentous fungi 3rd ed. CLSI standard M38. Wayne: Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute; 2017.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Edgar RC. MUSCLE: multiple sequence alignment with high accuracy and high throughput. Nucleic Acids Res. 2004b;32:1792–7.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Kumar S, Stecher G, Tamura K. MEGA7: molecular evolutionary genetics analysis version 7.0 for bigger datasets. Mol Biol Evol. 2016;33:1870–4.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Krishnan NS. Emerging fungal infections in Cancer patients- a brief overview. Med Mycol Open Access. 2016;3:12. https://doi.org/10.21767/2471-8521.100016.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Revankar SG. Dematiaceous fungi. Mycoses. 2007;50:91–101. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0507.2006.01331.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Pagano L, Akova M, Dimopoulos G, et al. Risk assessment and prognostic factors for mould-related diseases in immunocompromised patients. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2011;66(suppl_1):i5–i14. https://doi.org/10.1093/jac/dkq437.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Ruhnke M, Behre G, Buchheidt D, Christopeit M, Hamprecht A, Heinz W, et al. Diagnosis of invasive fungal diseases in haematology and oncology: 2018 update of the recommendations of the infectious diseases working party of the German society for hematology and medical oncology (AGIHO). Mycoses. 2018;61:796–813. https://doi.org/10.1111/myc.12838.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Nilsson RH, Ryberg M, Kristiansson E, Abarenkov K, Larsson KH, Koljalg U. Taxonomic reliability of DNA sequences in public sequence databases: a fungal perspective. PLoS One. 2006;1:e59. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0000059.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  19. Gupta PR, Jain S, Kewlani JP. A comparative study of itraconazole in various dose schedules in the treatment of pulmonary aspergilloma in treated patients of pulmonary tuberculosis. Lung India. 2015;32(4):342–6. https://doi.org/10.4103/0970-2113.159563.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Broom A, Nayar K, Tovey P, Shirali R, Thakur R, Seth T, et al. Indian Cancer Patients' use of traditional, complementary and alternative medicine (TCAM) and delays in presentation to hospital. Oman Med J. 2009;24(2):99–102. https://doi.org/10.5001/omj.2009.24.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  21. World Health Organization. Programme on Traditional Medicine. WHO traditional medicine strategy 2002–2005: World Health Organization; 2002. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/67163. Accessed 15 Apr 2020.

Download references

Acknowledgments

We are indebted to Prof. Dr. Arunaloke Chakrabarti, Dr. Shamanth, and Mrs. Sunita Gupta from NCCPF, Mycology Division, Department of Medical Microbiology, PGIMER, Chandigarh, India for ITS sequencing and AFST. The authors also wish to acknowledge Dr. Jaya Latha, Professor of Radio-diagnoses at MNJ Regional Cancer Centre, Hyderabad, Telangana, India for sharing the follow-up details of the patient. Lastly, the authors also acknowledge Dr. Ramesh, Professor of Pulmonary Medicine and Dr. P. R. Anuradha, Professor of Microbiology, Bhaskar Medical College and General Hospital, Telangana, India for extending their valuable opinion on this communication.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mycology Division, Department of Microbiology, Bhaskar Medical College and General Hospital, Bhaskar Nagar, Yenkapally, Moinabad, R.R. District, Hyderabad, Telangana, 500 075, India

    Hari Pankaj Vanam

  2. Department of Pulmonology, Bhaskar Medical College and General Hospital, Bhaskar Nagar, Yenkapally, Moinabad, R.R. District, Hyderabad, Telangana, 500 075, India

    Ranganath Deshpande

  3. Department of Radiodiagnosis, Bhaskar Medical College and General Hospital, Bhaskar Nagar, Yenkapally, Moinabad, R.R. District, Hyderabad, Telangana, 500 075, India

    Krishnaveni Nayanagari

  4. Department of Pathology, Bhaskar Medical College and General Hospital, Bhaskar Nagar, Yenkapally, Moinabad, R.R. District, Hyderabad, Telangana, 500 075, India

    Vijay Sreedhar V

  5. Department of Medical Microbiology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, 160012, India

    Shivaprakash Mandya Rudramurthy

Authors
  1. Hari Pankaj Vanam
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ranganath Deshpande
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Krishnaveni Nayanagari
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Vijay Sreedhar V
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Shivaprakash Mandya Rudramurthy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hari Pankaj Vanam.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical Approval

Ethical approval was obtained by the institutional ethical committee of Bhaskar Medical College and General Hospital for mycotic infections and all the procedures being performed were part of routine diagnoses and patient care and management.

Humans in Research

Procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation within their institutions and/or with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 1983.

Animals in Research

This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

Informed Consent

Written informed consent for participation and publication was obtained from the patient’s guardian.

Authorship Contributors

All authors confirm in accordance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines and International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) criteria. Each author had made a substantial contribution to the conception and design, acquisition of data, and/or analysis and interpretation of data. Each of the authors participated in the drafting of the article are revising it critically for important intellectual content and have read before the approval of the final manuscript.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Medicine

Repository

ITS Sequence GenBank Accession number MK453286.1https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/MK453286

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Vanam, H.P., Deshpande, R., Nayanagari, K. et al. Nigrospora oryzae Pulmonary Infection in a Bronchogenic Cancer: an Opportunistic Invader?. SN Compr. Clin. Med. 2, 919–927 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42399-020-00340-x

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42399-020-00340-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation