Candida albicans tagged posts

Toxin-producing Yeast Strains in Gut Fuel IBD

Opportunistic “high-damaging” Candida albicans strain in the colon mucosa of IBD patient secretes the toxin candidalysin (red dots) during the transition from a benign commensal to a pathogenic state and aggravates intestinal inflammation. Credit: Shutterstock

Individual Candida albicans yeast strains in the human gut are as different from each other as the humans that carry them, and some C. albicans strains may damage the gut of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), according to a new study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine. The findings suggest a possible way to tailor treatments to individual patients in the future.

The researchers, who report their findings March 16 in Nature, used an array of techniques to study strains, or genetic variants, of Candida f...

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Fungi in the Gut prime Immunity against Infection

Graphic depicting relationship between fungi in gut, antibody levels and CARD gene
Relationship between gut fungi, anti-fungal antibodies, CARD9 gene, and fungal immunity. Image courtesy of the Iliev lab.

Common fungi, often present in the gut, teach the immune system how to respond to their more dangerous relatives, according to new research from scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine. Breakdowns in this process can leave people susceptible to deadly fungal infections.

The study, published Feb. 5 in Cell, reveals a new twist in the complex relationship between humans and their associated microbes, and points the way toward novel therapies that could help combat a rising tide of drug-resistant pathogens.

The new discovery stemmed from work on inflammatory bowel disease, which often causes patients to carry larger than normal populations of fungi in their guts...

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