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An Enemy Inside
27 October 2013

An Enemy Inside

You might have been told never to kick somebody when they’re down, but the fungus Candida albicans certainly won’t waste an opportunity. It usually lives harmlessly within our gut, but can invade the tissues of patients with weakened immune defences, such as those suffering from HIV, causing fatal infections. Pictured, the fungi are extending projections known as hyphae (shown in green) into cells of the intestine (in red, nuclei shown in blue). However, they have a weakness we could use to fight back: Candida cells can’t invade without a functional vacuole. This cellular compartment is used to degrade waste products, and must be kept acidic by the action of a proton pump. Cells in which the pump was inactivated no longer caused fatal infections in mice; these results suggest that developing drugs that affect the pH of the vacuole may be a promising route towards fighting the fungus.

Written by Emmanuelle Briolat

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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