| | | Our Science | | | | Dr. Jack Edwards, the lead scientific founder of NovaDigm Therapeutics, has led a team of internationally recognized scientists in groundbreaking mycology research, specifically focusing on infectious disease caused by fungal pathogens. He and his team, which includes our five other scientific founders, began testing the hypothesis that adhesion to endothelial cells (the cells that line the inside of blood vessels) is necessary for Candida to become an infectious and pathogenic organism. | | | | One aspect of this work was to develop a bank of endothelial cells, which they used in a variety of experiments culminating in the identification of the proteins that Candida albicans used to adhere to and invade human tissues. These agglutinin-like sequence (Als) proteins had been previously identified by other researchers, but Dr. Edwards and his team were the first to specifically identify their role in pathogenesis. One of these proteins, Als3, was subsequently shown to be the most promising vaccine antigen, capable of inducing protection against both systemic and mucosal candidal infections.1 | | | | As part of these studies, the scientific founders began studying the 3 dimensional shape of these proteins and discovered they shared a high degree of structural homology with a Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) surface proteins. 2 This, along with other anecdotal evidence, suggested to the team that Als3-based vaccine may also protect against S. aureus, a bacterium. As predicted, the vaccine proved effective in preclinical studies, reducing the mortality of an otherwise lethal S. aureus infection. This vaccine has also demonstrated efficacy against the more virulent and difficult to treat methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA).3 | | | | This exciting research record highlights the critical discoveries made by the NovaDigm research team toward enabling new vaccine technology to potentially protect against life-threatening Candida and MRSA infections. NovaDigm’s Als3-based vaccine, NDV-3, is the first to demonstrate efficacy in reducing the severity of disease caused by both fungal and bacterial pathogens. | | | References
1. Spellberg BJ, Ibrahim AS, Avanesian V, Fu Y, Myers C, Phan QT, Filler SG, Yeaman MR and Edwards JE Jr., Efficacy of the anti-Candida rAls3p-N or rAls1p-N vaccines against disseminated and mucosal candidiasis. J. Inf. Dis. 2006;194:256-60.
2. Sheppard DC, Yeaman MR, Welch HW, Phan QT, Fu Y, Ibrahim AS, Filler SG, Zhang M, Waring AJ and Edwards JE, Jr., Functional and structural diversity in the Als protein family of Candida alibicans. J. Biol. Chem. 2004; 279:30480-9.
3. Spellberg BJ, Ibrahim AS, Yeaman MR, Lin L, Fu Y, Avanesian V, Bayer AS, Filler SG, Lipke P, Otoo H, and Edwards JE Jr., The antifungal vaccine derived from the recombinant N terminus of Als3 protects mice against the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus. Infect.Immun. 2008; 76:4574-580. | | | | | | | |
|
