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Article: Biologists ID defense mechanism of leading fungal pathogen.
- Article from:
- Proteomics Weekly
- Article date:
- July 19, 2004
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2004 JUL 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Molecular biologists at Rice University have discovered a key defense mechanism that the yeast Candida albicans uses against attack by the human immune system.
This chink in the armor of Candida, the most common human fungal pathogen, could be exploited with new drugs for both lethal and nonlethal Candida outbreaks, including vaginal yeast infections and thrush.
In the study, researchers ran side-by-side comparisons between Candida and baker's yeast - an organism that doesn't typically infect humans - in order to find the genes that Candida uses to protect itself against nitric oxide, or NO. Human immune cells ...