白念珠菌细胞壁结构及其与宿主相互作用的研究进展

Advances in cell wall structure and Candida albicans-host interaction

白念珠菌是常见的人体条件致病真菌,其侵染人体造成的血液感染死亡率高达40%,在癌症患者中致死率高达70%,极大地增加了人体健康负担。白念珠菌细胞壁是抵御外界侵害的第一道防线,是真菌与宿主接触的第一靶点,因此细胞壁结构对于真菌-宿主相互作用以及宿主免疫识别至关重要,是抗真菌治疗极具前景的靶点之一。当白念珠菌细胞壁的完整性遭受破坏时,细胞壁的分子结构就会受到干扰,从而导致细胞裂解和死亡。该文综述了白念珠菌细胞壁各成分的特点及其对真菌-宿主相互作用和免疫识别作用机制的影响,以期为寻找治疗白念珠菌感染的特异性靶点、筛选或鉴定更多经济有效的抗真菌药物提供新的研究线索和理论依据。

Candida albicans is an opportunistic human fungal pathogen.The mortality rate of blood infection caused by Candida albicans is as high as 40%while that of the cancer patients can even reach to 70%,which greatly increases the burden of human health.The cell wall of Candida albicans is the frontline of defense against external stress and the first contact point between fungi and host.Therefore,the cell wall is very important for fungi-host interaction and immune recognition,and is the most attractive target for antifungal therapy.Once the balance of synthesis and remodeling of cell wall of Candida albicans is broken,the molecular integrity of cell wall will be disturbed,which will finally lead to cell lysis and death.This paper reviews the characteristics of cell wall components of Candida albicans and their functions on fungi-host interaction and immune recognition mechanism,in order to provide novel research clues and theoretical basis for identification of specific antifungal targets and development of more economic and effective antifungal drugs.