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Yue Wang
Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Singapore
Keynote: J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis
Candida albicans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen in humans. While it normally colonizes the gut and skin as a commensal yeast in healthy people, it is also a common cause of life-threatening invasive infection in immunocompromised patients, leading to ~400,000 deaths every year worldwide. What causes C. albicans to transform from a harmless resident in our body to a deadly pathogen? The use of broad-spectrum antibiotics is one of the well-recognized risk factors for invasive C. albicans infection, although the underlying mechanism remains unclear. β-lactams, the most commonly used class of broad-spectrum antibiotics, act by inhibiting peptidoglycan (PGN) polymerization in bacteria, leading to the accumulation and release of PGN subunits upon bacterial cell lysis. In a previous endeavor to identify the molecules in the human blood that promote C. albicans infection, we detected bacterial PGN subunits and demonstrated that some subunits were extremely potent inducers of C. albicans hyphal morphogenesis, the invasive form of the fungus. This discovery inspired us to propose and test a potential mechanism by which β-lactam antibiotics could increase the risk of invasive candidiasis. We hypothesized that β-lactams promote C. albicans infection by forcing trillions of bacterial cells in the human microbiota to suddenly release a massive amount of PGN subunits which in turn drive C. albicans to undergo the yeast-to-hyphal transition. We have obtained compelling in vitro and in vivo evidence that supports our hypothesis, which could lead to new strategies for the prevention and management of invasive C. albicans infection.
Yue Wang has his expertise in fungal pathogens with a focus on Candida albicans. His main interest lies in the identification and characterization of both host and fungal factors that determine the pathogenicity of Candida albicans. His main discoveries include the hypha-specific gene HGC1 that controls hyphal morphogenesis and a range of Hgc1/Cdc28 substrates that play various roles in polarity control, vesicle transport and virulence. He also discovered that bacterial peptidoglycan subunits in the blood are potent inducers of C. albicans hyphal growth.
E-mail: mcbwangy@imcb.a-star.edu.sg
