Protective Efficacy of Anti-Hyr1p Monoclonal Antibody against Systemic Candidiasis Due to Multi-Drug-Resistant <i>Candida auris</i>

oleh: Shakti Singh, Ashley Barbarino, Eman G. Youssef, Declan Coleman, Teclegiorgis Gebremariam, Ashraf S. Ibrahim

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2023-01-01

Deskripsi

<i>Candida auris</i> is a multi-drug-resistant fungal pathogen that can survive outside the host and can easily spread and colonize the healthcare environment, medical devices, and human skin. <i>C. auris</i> causes serious life-threatening infections (up to 60% mortality) in immunosuppressed patients staying in such contaminated healthcare facilities. Some isolates of <i>C. auris</i> are resistant to virtually all clinically available antifungal drugs. Therefore, alternative therapeutic approaches are urgently needed. Using in silico protein modeling and analysis, we identified a highly immunogenic and surface-exposed epitope that is conserved between <i>C. albicans</i> hyphal-regulated protein (Cal-Hyr1p) and Hyr1p/Iff-like proteins in <i>C. auris</i> (Cau-HILp). We generated monoclonal antibodies (MAb) against this Cal-Hyr1p epitope, which recognized several clinical isolates of <i>C. auris</i> representing all four clades. An anti-Hyr1p MAb prevented biofilm formation and enhanced opsonophagocytic killing of <i>C. auris</i> by macrophages. When tested for in vivo efficacy, anti-Hyr1p MAb protected 55% of mice against lethal systemic <i>C. auris</i> infection and showed significantly less fungal burden. Our study is highly clinically relevant and provides an effective alternative therapeutic option to treat infections due to MDR <i>C. auris</i>.