title: Caspofungin reduces the incidence of fungal contamination in cell culture.
abstract: Fungal contamination is a major problem in cell culture, and the antifungal compounds currently in use can affect cultured cells. Echinocandins are antifungal drugs that inhibit fungal cell wall synthesis by targeting an enzyme that has no counterpart in mammalian cells. We evaluated whether the echinocandin caspofungin affected the growth or morphology of six murine cell lines (a macrophage-like cell line (J774.16) and five hybridoma lines), or primary human endothelial cells. The antifungal did not influence cellular characteristics at concentrations less than 512 microg/ml, while effectively reducing the incidence of fungal contamination. Also, caspofungin did not affect the production of antibody by hybridoma cells, or alter the cytokine production of J774.16 cells, although modest increases in IL-4 and IFN-gamma occurred upon LPS stimulation. Hence, echinocandins appear to be relatively non-toxic, and protect against fungal contamination in cell culture.
authors: Department of Medicine (Division of Infectious Diseases), Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1300 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY 10461, USA.
authors: Luis R
authors: LR
authors: Martinez
authors: Patricia
authors: P
authors: Ntiamoah
authors: Arturo
authors: A
authors: Casadevall
authors: Joshua D
authors: JD
authors: Nosanchuk
mesh_terms: D000666:Amphotericin B / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001230:Aspergillus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development; D000077336:Caspofungin; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002460:Cell Line / Q000382:microbiology*; D054714:Echinocandins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D055666:Lipopeptides; D008264:Macrophages / Q000166:cytology / Q000382:microbiology; D051379:Mice
chemical_list: D000935:Antifungal Agents; D054714:Echinocandins; D055666:Lipopeptides; D000666:Amphotericin B; D000077336:Caspofungin