Identification and characterization of virulence associated genes during vaginal infections with Candida albicans, focusing on the cell wall

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Candida albicans is the predominant cause of fungal infections in immuno-compromised patients but also affects healthy individuals. Among these infections vulvovaginal Candidiasis (VVC) is one of the most common symptomatic infections, affecting up to 75% of all women. In order to understand how C. albicans is able to recognize, colonize and infect the vaginal tract we want to identify the genes expressed in C. albicans during infection. Identification of virulence associated genes in vaginal candidiasis will be performed using transcriptional profiling of Candida infecting in vitro reconstructed vaginal tissue. These data will be compared to data of oral and cutaneous infection models in a cooperative effort, to reveal genes expressed specifically during infection of vaginal tissue. The major focus of this work will be on the function of the proteins in the cell wall during infection since the cell wall is the primary fungal structure interacting with the host. Thus the functional characterization of cell wall proteins associated with virulence will be of first priority. Cell surface proteins already identified as associated with virulence in an Efg1p dependent manner will be functionally characterized in vitro as well as in mouse models of vaginal and systemic candidiasis using mutational approaches. The results gathered during this project will be verified directly in clinical isolates from patients and continued in further application periods of this priority program in order to understand infection mechanisms of C. albicans and to contribute to prevention and treatment of VVC.