Overview
- The study, published in Cell Communication and Signaling, reports that ALT1 is essential to Candida albicans virulence and could be a drug target.
- Researchers combined the fungal model iRV781 with the human metabolic model Recon3D to map host–pathogen interactions and expose weaknesses in arginine-linked metabolism.
- Deleting the ALT1 gene curtailed infection potential in laboratory assays and mouse models, indicating a potential therapeutic avenue.
- The team, led by Prof. Karthik Raman (IIT Madras) and Prof. Susan Thomas (ICMR-NIRRCH), says further mechanistic work and testing on patient samples are required before drug development.
- India records about 470,000 invasive candidiasis cases annually, with global estimates of 1.565 million cases and 995,000 deaths, and severe-case mortality reported up to 63.6%.