Vitamin B3 as a novel approach to treat fungal infections

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Public release date: 8-Jul-2010

Contact: Carolyne Lord

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University of Montreal

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-07/uom-vba070810.php

Vitamin B3 as a novel approach to treat fungal infections

University of Montreal scientists demonstrate antifungal properties of vitamin

B3

This release is available in French.

IMAGE: A team of scientists from the Institute for Research in Immunology and

Cancer of the University of Montreal have identified vitamin B3 as a potential

antifungal treatment.

Click here for more information.

Montreal, July 8, 2010 - A team of scientists from the Institute for Research in

Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) of the University of Montreal have identified

vitamin B3 as a potential antifungal treatment. Led by IRIC Principal

Investigators e , Alain Verreault and Pierre Thibault, in

collaboration with Alaka Mullick, from the Biotechnology Research Institute of

the National Research Council Canada, the study is the subject of a recent

article in Nature Medicine.

Infections by the yeast Candida albicans represent a significant public health

problem and a common complication in immunodeficient individuals such as AIDS

patients, cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and recipients of organ

transplants. While some treatments are available, their efficacy can be

compromised by the emergence of drug-resistant strains.

The current study shows that a C. albicans enzyme, known as Hst3, is essential

to the growth and survival of the yeast. Researchers found that genetic or

pharmacological inhibition of Hst3 with nicotinamide, a form of vitamin B3,

strongly reduced C. albicans virulence in a mouse model. Both normal and

drug-resistant strains of C. albicans were susceptible to nicotinamide. In

addition, nicotinamide prevented the growth of other pathogenic Candida species

and Aspergillus fumigatus (another human pathogen), thus demonstrating the broad

antifungal properties of nicotinamide.

" There is an urgent need to develop new therapies to kill C. albicans because it

is one of the leading causes of hospital-acquired infections and is associated

with high mortality rates, " explains e , who is also a professor at

the University of Montreal Department of Biochemistry. " Although many issues

remain to be investigated, the results of our study are very exciting and they

constitute an important first step in the development of new therapeutic agents

to treat fungal infections without major side effects for patients. "

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Partners in research:

e is Principal Investigator in the Yeast Molecular Biology

Laboratory. Alain Verreault is Principal Investigator in the Chromosome

Biogenesis Laboratory. Pierre Thibault is Principal Investigator in the

Proteomics and Bioanalytical Mass Spectrometry Laboratory. The research received

funding from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research and the National

Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

About the study:

The article, " Modulation of histone H3 lysine 56 acetylation as an antifungal

therapeutic strategy, " published in Nature Medicine, was authored by Hugo

Wurtele, Tsao, Guylaine Lépine, Alaka Mullick, Jessy Tremblay,

Drogaris, Eun-Hye Lee, Pierre Thibault, Alain Verreault and e .

On the Web:

Article from Nature Medicine:

http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v16/n7/full/nm.2175.html

Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer: www.iric.ca

University of Montreal Department of Biochemistry: www.biochimie.umontreal.ca