Oral Yeast Carriage and Salivary Antifungal Activity

描述（由申请人提供）：众所周知，口腔硬组织和软组织的维持依赖于唾液的存在，因为对唾液流动产生负面影响的条件会导致口腔健康的迅速恶化。这种对唾液重要性的认识导致了主要唾液蛋白的结构和功能表征。其中一些蛋白质在体外实验中显示出很强的抗真菌活性。虽然总唾液抗真菌活性被认为是由所有个体抗真菌成分的活性来代表的，但在体外试验中，总唾液的抗真菌活性却惊人地少或没有。我们已经证明，唾液可以通过降低或去除其电解质来呈现活性，从而可以在所有唾液蛋白存在的情况下评估抗真菌活性。众所周知，健康个体的口腔条件致病菌白色念珠菌的携带状态不同。值得注意的是，每个受口腔念珠菌病影响的受试者必须在发病前获得携带者身份。该应用的重点是基于健康个体之间唾液抗真菌能力的差异可能解释念珠菌携带水平的差异这一假设。为此，计划1)评估天然和脱盐条件下唾液分泌物抑菌和杀真菌活性的全部程度，2)研究唾液全离子强度或唾液抗真菌能力与口腔酵母菌携带之间是否存在关系，3)启动鉴定透析腮腺分泌物活性成分的研究。这个项目是朝着在唾液环境中促进宿主保护的因素进行更全面调查的第一步。本文概述的实验将为更好地理解唾液在口腔中的抗真菌机制提供基础。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): It is well known that the maintenance of oral hard and soft tissues is dependent on the presence of saliva since conditions negatively affecting salivary flow lead to rapid deterioration of oral health. This recognition of the importance of saliva has led to the structural and functional characterization of the major salivary proteins. Some of these proteins were found to exhibit strong antifungal activity in in vitro assays. While the total salivary antifungal activity is expected to be represented by the activities of all individual antifungal components, in vitro assays with total saliva show surprisingly little or no fungicidal activity. We have shown that saliva can be rendered active by lowering or removing its electrolytes making it possible to evaluate antifungal activities in the presence of all salivary proteins. It is well known that healthy individuals differ with respect to the carrier status of the oral opportunistic pathogen Candida albicans. Notably, every subject affected with oral candidiasis must have acquired carrier status before developing the disease. The focus of this application is based on the hypothesis that differences in salivary antifungal capacity between healthy individuals may explain differences in Candida carriage levels. To investigate this, it is planned to 1) assess the full extent of fungistatic and fungicidal activities of salivary secretions under native and desalted conditions, 2) investigate whether there is a relationship between whole saliva ionic strength or salivary antifungal capacity and oral yeast carriage, 3) initiate studies on the identification of components responsible for the activity of dialyzed parotid secretion. This project is the first step toward a more comprehensive investigation of the factors which promote host protection in a salivary environment. The experiments outlined here will provide the basis for a better understanding of antifungal mechanisms exerted by saliva in the oral cavity.