Molecules found in mucus can thwart fungal infection

Amazing stuff! Could be a breakthrough!

"... researchers have now identified components of mucus that can interact with Candida albicans and prevent it from causing infection. These molecules, known as glycans, are a major constituent of mucins, the gel-forming polymers that make up mucus.

Mucins contain many different glycans, which are complex sugar molecules. A growing body of research suggests that glycans can be specialized to help tame specific pathogens — not only Candida albicans but also other pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus ...

“The picture that is emerging is that mucus displays an extensive small-molecule library with lots of virulence inhibitors against all sorts of problematic pathogens, ready to be discovered and leveraged,” ..."

From the abstract:

"Mucins are large gel-forming polymers inside the mucus barrier that inhibit the yeast-to-hyphal transition of Candida albicans, a key virulence trait of this important human fungal pathogen. However, the molecular motifs in mucins that inhibit filamentation remain unclear despite their potential for therapeutic interventions. Here, we determined that mucins display an abundance of virulence-attenuating molecules in the form of mucin O-glycans. We isolated and cataloged >100 mucin O-glycans from three major mucosal surfaces and established that they suppress filamentation and related phenotypes relevant to infection, including surface adhesion, biofilm formation and cross-kingdom competition between C. albicans and the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Using synthetic O-glycans, we identified three structures (core 1, core 1 + fucose and core 2 + galactose) that are sufficient to inhibit filamentation with potency comparable to the complex O-glycan pool. Overall, this work identifies mucin O-glycans as host molecules with untapped therapeutic potential to manage fungal pathogens."

Molecules found in mucus can thwart fungal infection | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology Harnessing the strength of these specialized sugar molecules could help researchers develop new antifungal drugs.

Mucin O-glycans are natural inhibitors of Candida albicans pathogenicity (no public access)

The more infectious form of the yeast Candida albicans is a long filament (left). MIT researchers have shown that when the yeast is grown in the presence of mucin glycans, it remains in its round, harmless form (right).