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取决于唾液的存在，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。这些蛋白质中的一些被发现在体外试验中表现出很强的抗真菌活性。虽然总唾液抗真菌活性预期由所有单独抗真菌组分的活性表示，但用总唾液进行的体外测定显示出令人惊讶的很少或没有杀真菌活性。我们已经证明，唾液可以通过降低或去除其电解质来使其具有活性，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，健康个体在口腔机会致病菌白色念珠菌的携带状态方面存在差异。值得注意的是，每一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状态。本申请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的假设。为了对此进行研究，计划1）评估唾液分泌物在天然和脱盐条件下的抑真菌和杀真菌活性的全部程度，2）研究全唾液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）启动对负责透析腮腺分泌物活性的组分的鉴定的研究。这个项目是第一步，更全面的调查因素，促进宿主保护唾液环境。本文概述的实验将为更好地了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.