Biomedical subjects
W Magliani
Publications and source records attributed to W Magliani.
'Antibiobodies': antibiotic-like anti-idiotypic antibodies.
Pathogenic micro-organisms such as Candida albicans may be susceptible to the activity of antimicrobial products like yeast killer toxins due to the presence of specific cell wall receptors for these agents. Anti-idiotypic antibodies (anti-Ids) were produced that competed for these receptors with the yeast killer toxin of a strain of Pichia anomala. We report here that affinity chromatography purified anti-Ids may kill C. albicans cells in vitro which are susceptible to the activity of the yeast killer toxin, as well as P. anomala killer cells which are obviously immune to their own toxin despite possessing specific cell wall receptors which can be detected by indirect immunofluorescence with anti-Ids. We propose that these conceptually new antimicrobial immunoglobulins acting as antibiotics be called 'antibiobodies'.
Interfaces of the yeast killer phenomenon.
A new prophylactic and therapeutic antimicrobial strategy based on a specific physiological target that is effectively used by killer yeasts in their natural ecological competition is theorized. The natural system exploited is the yeast killer phenomenon previously adopted as an epidemiological marker for intraspecific differentiation of opportunistic yeasts, hyphomycetes, and bacteria. Pathogenic microorganisms (Candida albicans) may be susceptible to the activity of yeast killer toxins due to the presence of specific cell wall receptors. On the basis of the idiotypic network, we report that antiidiotypic antibodies, produced against a monoclonal antibody bearing the receptor-like idiotype, are in vivo protecting animals immunized through idiotypic vaccination and in vitro mimicking the antimicrobial activity of yeast killer toxins, thus acting as antibiotics.
[Diagnostic significance of secretory IgA coated yeast cells in oral candidiasis].
The significance of in vivo IgA coated yeast cells for the diagnosis of candidiasis of the oral mucosal membranes was evaluated by direct immunofluorescence in 42 patients with or without clinical symptoms, shown to be positive for yeast growth in the cultural test. Most of the patients with clinically suspected candidiasis of the mucosal membranes gave positive results by serologic assays in contrast to the majority of symptomless patients. The diagnostic approach proved to be essentially consistent with the clinical signs, persistance of infection, response to antifungal therapy and quantitative cultural data.
Biotyping of pathogenic fungi by the killer system and with monoclonal antibodies.
Biotyping of pathogenic yeasts and hyphomycetes based on their susceptibility to selected killer yeasts and their reactivity with monoclonal antibodies are described. Both methods were used to differentiate fungi isolated from patients providing valuable epidemiological information on mycotic infections. The functional biotyping obtained with the two systems and the conventional auxenographic biocoding approaches commercially available for opportunistic yeasts are comparatively evaluated. The potential for biotyping of industrial fungal isolates is also discussed.
Epidemiological survey on bacterial, viral and parasitic agents in patients affected by acute enteritis.
During the period June 1983-May 1984, faecal specimens from 797 patients with acute enteritis were examined for the presence of bacterial, viral and parasitic agents; 209 (26.2%) enteritic pathogens were identified, of whom 118 (35.4%) in 333 samples from the pediatrics wards. Bacterial agents were detected in 122 (15.3%), viruses in 63 (7.9%) and parasites in 25 (3.1%) of the 797 specimens. LT-producing E. coli, Salmonella and Rotavirus were the most frequent pathogens. Bacterial agents occurred most frequently in the summer and autumnal months, whereas viruses showed two peaks, the first one in summer due to cultivable agents, the second in winter to Rotavirus mainly.