Current Molecular Medicine - Volume 5, Issue 4, 2005

In the last few decades, a plethora of studies have demonstrated the relevance of host acquired immunity against invasive fungal infections. The consolidated consensus that cell-mediated immunity is critical for the successful outcome of fungal infections has been hampered in recent years by the evidence of the role that antibodies may play in host immunoprotection against pathogenic fungi. Today, the major concern is nei Read More

The role played by antibodies (Abs) in the anticandidal defense has long been a matter of controversy, mostly due to the past inability to clearly define antigen specificity, the relationship between the type of immune response within the different settings of experimental and human candidiasis and, last but not least, a misunderstanding about the role of T helper cell in cell-mediated versus the humoral immunity. Cont Read More

Prevention of hematogenously disseminated candidiasis and mucocutaneous disease, including Candida vaginitis, through immunological approaches is appealing for the following reason. A long-acting and safe vaccine that protects against both serotypes of Candida albicans and other important species, such as C. tropicalis and C. glabrata, should significantly reduce the incidence of various forms of candidiasis by thes Read More

Immunization of mice with a stress mannoprotein of >200 kDa from the cell wall of Candida albicans led to the production of monoclonal antibody (Mab) C7. The immunogen is a major target of secretory IgA and its expression is regulated by different environmental conditions including temperature, pH, glucose concentration and ammonium sulphate in the culture medium. Mab C7 reacted with a peptide epitope presen Read More

Recent years have seen the development of the concept of combination therapy for treating severe fungal sepsis. The advantages of this approach are a potential improvement in patient survival and a reduction in the chance of resistance developing to each of the single agents. The disadvantage is that combining drugs may increase the chance of toxicity. Mycograb® is a genetically recombinant antibody against fun Read More

The capsule of Cryptococcus neoformans, the principal virulence factor of this fungus, is composed primarily of polysaccharide. The predominant component of the polysaccharide capsule is glucuronoxylomannan (GXM), a compound with potent immunoregulatory properties. GXM is bound and internalized by natural immune cells affecting innate and subsequent adaptive immune response. The cellular pattern recognition r Read More

At first glance Cryptococcus neoformans appears an unlikely microbe to provide a new understanding of mechanisms of antibody-mediated immunity (AMI), because it is a facultative intracellular fungal pathogen for which the role of naturally acquired AMI in host defense is uncertain. However, numerous studies have now established that certain antibodies (Abs) against C. neoformans are protective in certain hosts. St Read More

The host response to infection is the outcome of a complex interaction between a microbe and a host's innate and adaptive immune system. In this context, the role of antibody in the endemic mycoses is relatively poorly understood. Recently, a monoclonal antibody to a cell surface protein has been shown to be protective in a murine histoplasmosis model. The findings with Histoplasma capsulatum may provide a paradigm for a Read More

After several years of controversy, antibodies (Abs) are now believed to play an important role in the protection against fungal infections. Among them, recent data are strongly supporting the relevance of protective yeast killer toxin-like Abs (“antibiobodies”, KT-Abs), which are able to exert a direct microbicidal activity by mimicking a killer toxin (PaKT) and its interaction with cell wall receptors on susceptible cells essentially co Read More