Anti-beta-glucan-like immunoprotective candidacidal antiidiotypic antibodies

Mycoses, candidiasis in particular, are relatively common opportunistic infections still characterized by an unacceptable high mortality rate. Furthermore, they are often complicated by resistance or refractoriness to the existing antimicrobial agents. In recent years new effective therapeutic and large-scale preventative strategies have been proposed by exploiting the identification of fungal beta-glucans as target of antifungal agents such as echinocandins, yeast killer toxins and protective antibodies. Anti-beta-glucan antibodies are detectable in animal and human sera. When elicited by glucan-based vaccines they can exert a fungicidal protective activity. Beta-glucan cell wall killer toxin receptors can elicit fungicidal protective antibodies following natural and experimental infections. When used as an immunogen a killer toxin-neutralizing monoclonal antibody (beta-glucan-like) is able to elicit a significant anticandidal protection mediated by antiidiotypic anti-beta-glucan-like candidacidal antibodies. Polyclonal, monoclonal and recombinant anti-beta-glucan-like antibodies and peptide mimotopes are able to exert an in vitro and/or in vivo microbicidal activity against eukaryotic and prokaryotic killer toxin receptor-bearing pathogenic microorganisms. Implications and perspectives for transphyletic anti-infectious control strategies, as immunoprevention and immunotherapy, are discussed.