The aim of this Phase I SBIR study is to identify intracellular binding proteins for novel antifungal agents. Previous studies indicated that our novel antifungal agents bind to specific intracellular sites. We propose to purify the binding proteins by affinity chromatography. Antibodies will be raised against the purified proteins and immunohistochemical studies will be performed on fungi, bacteria and human cells. The binding proteins will be partially sequenced and the sequences will be compared to known proteins in gene data bases. The proteins will also be cloned. The purified binding proteins will serve as novel molecular targets for screening molecular libraries and in analog development.
Investigations in this study may lead to novel drugs for the treatment of topical and/or systemic fungal infections.
