EPITOPES OF COMMENSAL FUNGI CROSS-REACTING WITH HUMAN ANTIGENS ARE POTENTIAL MEDIATORS OF AUTO- IMMUNITY

Abstract

The human body is the reservoir of both commensal as well as pathogenic fungi, that play an essential role in regulation of homeostasis and balance the susceptible conditions towards various diseases. The immune system had evolved to keep a check on these fungi and prevent them from causing life-threatening disorders. When the balance that is formed between the fungi and the immune system disrupts, it leads to dysbiosis due to which the fungal infection flares up. It can lead to various autoimmune reactions, which are caused due to cross-reactivity of epitopes of fungi with the auto-antigens of humans, as in the case, where the generation of antibodies against Aspergillus Noc2 peptide can cross-react with human IFN-γ due to the sequence homology between the two. This study aims to explore different fungi that are present as commensals in humans. Proteins of these fungi are to be studied and the potential epitopes present in these fungi are to be screened for cross reactivity with host epitopes. Their sequence homology would be searched with auto-antigens of humans, in order to look for the cross-reactive antigens which can serve as biomarkers for certain autoimmune diseases in the future.