Anti-beta-glucan antibodies elicited by a laminarin-conjugate vaccine confer cross-protection to mice challenged with major fungal pathogens such as Candida albicans, Aspergillus fumigatus and Cryptococcus neoformans. To gain insights into protective beta-glucan epitope(s) and protection mechanisms, we studied two anti-beta-glucan monoclonal antibodies (mAb) with identical complementarity-deter...

The pathogenic fungus Candida albicans secretes a considerable number of hydrolases and other proteins. In-depth studies of the C. albicans secretome could thus provide new candidates for diagnostic markers and vaccine development. We compared various growth conditions differing in pH, temperature and the presence of the hyphal inducer N-acetylglucosamine. The polypeptide content of the growth ...

M otor neurone disease includes a heterogeneous group of disorders with motor neurone involvement, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, progressive muscular atrophy, progressive bulbar palsy, and primary lateral sclerosis. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is the most common adult onset form of motor neurone disease and involves the lower and upper motor neurones. It is characterised by progressi...

Candida albicans is known as a commensal microorganism but it is also the most common fungal pathogen in humans, causing both mucosal and systemic infections. Biofilm-associated C. albicans infections present clinically important features due to their high levels of resistance to traditional antifungal agents. Quorum sensing is closely associated with biofilm formation and increasing fungal pat...

Candida albicans cell wall is important for growth and interaction with the environment. RLM1 is one of the putative transcription factors involved in the cell wall integrity pathway, which plays an important role in the maintenance of the cell wall integrity. In this work we investigated the involvement of RLM1 in the cell wall biogenesis and in virulence. Newly constructed C. albicans Δ/Δrlm1...

M otor neurone disease includes a heterogeneous group of disorders with motor neurone involvement, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, progressive muscular atrophy, progressive bulbar palsy, and primary lateral sclerosis. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is the most common adult onset form of motor neurone disease and involves the lower and upper motor neurones. It is characterised by progressi...

Oropharyngeal candidiasis (OPC), caused predominantly by Candida albicans, is a prevalent infection in patients with advanced AIDS, defects in Th17 immunity, and head and neck cancer. A characteristic feature of OPC is fungal invasion of the oral epithelial cells. One mechanism by which C. albicans hyphae can invade oral epithelial cells is by expressing the Als3 and Ssa1 invasins that interact...

How and when did your company start, and where are you located? NovaDigm was founded in 2005 by a group of investigators at the los Angeles Biomedical research institute (lA BioMed) and the Division of infectious Diseases at Harbor-UclA Medical center. The company received its first venture capital funding from Domain Associates in 2008 and established its corporate headquarters and laboratory ...

Candida albicans is a major cause of oropharyngeal, vulvovaginal and hematogenously disseminated candidiasis. Endocytosis of C. albicans hyphae by host cells is a prerequisite for tissue invasion. This internalization involves interactions between the fungal invasin Als3 and host Eor Ncadherin. Als3 shares some structural similarity with InlA, a major invasion protein of the bacterium Listeria ...