Anti-infectives (Track)
Development of new antifungal drugs by identifying inhibitors of the key survival gene in human pathogen Candida albicans
Yun-Liang Yang Biological Science and Technology
National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu
Taiwan
Abstract:
In the past decades, the prevalence of fungal infections has increased dramatically. And the cost for related treatments has been expensive. The increased use of antifungal agents also led to an increase in incidences of drug resistance. The eukaryotic nature of fungi reduces the number of potential antifungal targets. Hence, the limited clinically active antifungal drugs, strong side effects, and the emerging of drug resistance are major issues in managing fungal infections. Thus, developing new and effective antifungal drugs to manage the infections is greatly in need. Candida albicans is not only the most common human fungal pathogen but also an excellent model for basic researches. We found that Ndt80p is a key transcription factor involved in drug and stress resistance, morphologic switch and virulence in C. albicans. Thus, Ndt80p coordinates gene networks responding to different environmental stresses. We set out to identify small-molecular-weight compounds which can block the functions of Ndt80p. Based on the available protein structure of Ndt80p of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we have perform homology modeling to generate a simulated structure of Ndt80p of C. albicans and utilized it for structure-based virtual screenings. Currently, we are investigating the activities of approximately 100 compounds selected from the virtual screening.
