It’s the first tome when scientists have used the DNA recombinant technology to prepare an active (live) vaccine to protect mice from mycoses (fungous infection). This new vaccine is more reliable than modern vaccines manufactured without implementation of the DNA recombinant technology, and more efficient that the so-called “suppressed vaccines” (vaccines whose operational principle is based on introduction of weakened or dead virus in an organism). Yet a plenty of fungous diseases are annually registered around the world, the new recombinant-based method can be effectively used to save people from many of them.

On December 1, Mr. Bruce Klein and his colleagues of Wisconsin-Madison University informed of their latest achievements in this field. Their research paves a way for vaccine application to treat pathogenic fungus.

Production of anti-fungous vaccine is an extremely difficult task, since fungus are related to sophisticated organisms with a great number of genes. To be protected, immune system of an organism has to response on mycoses with an equally sophisticated set of protective functions.

Active (live) vaccine is the best approach to finding a decision for effective fighting with mycoses and its varieties. However to prepare vaccine, scientists must first find and de-activate a “verulentness” gene which allows a fungi and a virus to penetrate in a cell and induce a disease.

Mycoses fungi studied in the research comprises a genom which consists of 25 mln pairs of the DNA nitrogenous bases. To compare with, the Escherichia coli bacteria and a HIV-virus have only 4.6 mln and no more than 10,000 pairs of nitrogeneus bases, respectively.

Scienists studied Blastomyces dermatiditis, a myscosesous kind of fungus, which sometimes might initiate a disease with a fatal outcome even in organism of strong and healthy people. Researchers identified the WI-1, a specific “verulentness” gene. When they were suppressing the WI-1 gene with a DNA recombinant, they discovered that modified Blastomyces dermatiditis wasn’t able to initiate a disease in the organism of tested mice any longer. In addition, they found that these actions provoked immune response of the T-cell, which completely protected mice from all kinds of myscosesous fungus which could cause a fatal outcome.

The WI-1 gene codes information on a fungi for a surface protein molecule which enables the fungi to delay and remain in lungs and leads to fatal consequences. Besides, the WI-1 protein intensively clashes with organism’s immune system and breaks the balance of cytokines (protective molecules) which immune system actively produces. The WI-1 protein is likely the major reason of Blastomyces dermatiditis development. It’s so strong that, entering organism in the amount of no more than 10 to 100 cells, could kill healthy mice.

Blastomycosis differently effects people. Various studies show that Blastomycosis is developed in 1 to 40 out of 100,000 people. Similar to many fungus, it lives in a soil, generally around cavities, and can result in pneumonia development when people inhale its spores and these spores enter langs. As far as modern fungicide medicines available on the market today are concerned, patients generally have to consume these drugs during a treatment course lasting up to 6 months to kill the disease for sure. Other disease-originating fungus like Blastomyces dermatiditis, are more untypical; to effectively treat a disease they induce, individual vaccine for each type of fungus have to be developed. In addition, a number of the so-called “conditionally pathogenic” mycoses, initiated by such organisms as Aspergillus and Candida, is continuously growing. This is partly a result of a growing number of AIDS-carriers whose immune system capability is weakened due to a HIV-virus, frequent colds, chemotherapy, marrow transplants or surgeries.

The vaccine for the Blastomyces dermatiditis neutralization can also be widely used in veterinary as a veterinary vaccine, since Blastomycosis hurts a great deal of dogs, as well.

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