The Role of Antibody to Augment
Function of Newborn Neutrophils Against Candida albicans
Candida albicans is
the most common fungal pathogen in patients with compromised immune
systems. Premature infants are at particularly high risk for invasive
infections with this organism, which cause significant mortality and
morbidity. Because one type of white blood cell, the neutrophil, is known
to be very important in host defense against Candida, my laboratory is
interested in the function of newborn neutrophils confronted with the
fungus. Two important neutrophil functions that are inefficient in this
setting are phagocytosis and oxidative burst. In adult neutrophils, these
functions can be improved by opsonization, that is, coating the fungus
with specific antibody. The extent to which antibody can help newborn
neutrophils has not been studied. This project will investigate the
extent to which Candida-specific monoclonal antibodies raised in my
laboratory may be able to augment these functions in newborn neutrophils.
These studies will help to identify antibodies that may be useful in
therapy for babies suffering from these infections.
