ADHERENCE MOLECULES OF CANDIDA-ALBICANS

Candida albicans is a commensal yeast which can cause infections at cutaneous, mucocutaneous and systemic sites. The organism appears to utilize cell surface mannoproteins to colonize host epithelial and endothelial cells. Blastoconidia possess a lectin-like mannoprotein which recognizes fucosyl glycosides of epithelial cells. The lectin appears to be strain-specific in that other strains of the organism prefer glucosamine or N-acetyl glucosamine glycosides. The recognition system is clearly a protein (Candida)-sugar (epithelial cell) interaction. The recognition of endothelial cells or their extracellular matrix proteins by C. albicans is promoted by a complement receptor type of protein (CR3) which has biochemical and functional properties similar to the integrin family of mammalian cell receptors. The methods which have been used to isolate and characterize these two adhesins of C. albicans are outlined below.