{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,10]],"date-time":"2026-03-10T00:03:43Z","timestamp":1773101023546,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,15]],"date-time":"2020-12-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1607990400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Austrian Science Fund (FWF)","award":["ZFP309240"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ZFP309240"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JoF"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Antifungal resistance of human fungal pathogens represents an increasing challenge in modern medicine. Short antimicrobial peptides (AMP) display a promising class of antifungals with a different mode of action, but lack target specificity and metabolic stability. In this study the hexapeptide PAF26 (Ac-dArg-dLys-dLys-dTrp-dPhe-dTrp-NH2) and the three amino acid long peptide NLF (H2N-Asn-Leu-dPhe-COOH) were coupled to diacetylfusarinine C (DAFC), a derivative of the siderophore triacetylfusarinine C (TAFC) of Aspergillus fumigatus, to achieve targeted delivery for treatment of invasive aspergillosis. Conjugated compounds in various modifications were labelled with radioactive gallium-68 to perform in vitro and in vivo characterizations. LogD, serum stability, uptake- growth promotion- and minimal inhibitory concentration assays were performed, as well as in vivo stability tests and biodistribution in BALB\/c mice. Uptake and growth assays revealed specific internalization of the siderophore conjugates by A. fumigatus. They showed a high stability in human serum and also in the blood of BALB\/c mice but metabolites in urine, probably due to degradation in the kidneys. Only PAF26 showed growth inhibition at 8 \u00b5g\/ml which was lost after conjugation to DAFC. Despite their lacking antifungal activity conjugates based on a siderophore scaffold have a potential to provide the basis for a new class of antifungals, which allow the combination of imaging by using PET\/CT with targeted treatment, thereby opening a theranostic approach for personalized therapy.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jof6040367","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,15]],"date-time":"2020-12-15T21:11:02Z","timestamp":1608066662000},"page":"367","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":15,"title":["Siderophore Scaffold as Carrier for Antifungal Peptides in Therapy of Aspergillus fumigatus Infections"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"6","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5357-126X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Joachim","family":"Pfister","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Nuclear Medicine, Medical University Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Roland","family":"Bata","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Nuclear Medicine, Medical University Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Isabella","family":"Hubmann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Nuclear Medicine, Medical University Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Anton Amadeus","family":"H\u00f6rmann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Nuclear Medicine, Medical University Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9257-8648","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fabio","family":"Gsaller","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Molecular Biology, Medical University Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2472-9878","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hubertus","family":"Haas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Molecular Biology, Medical University Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0566-4036","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Clemens","family":"Decristoforo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Nuclear Medicine, Medical University Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"165rv13","DOI":"10.1126\/scitranslmed.3004404","article-title":"Hidden Killers: Human Fungal Infections","volume":"4","author":"Brown","year":"2012","journal-title":"Sci. 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