Passive administration of monoclonal antibodies against XXXX and other fungal pathogens.

@entity1 @entity19 @entity281 @entity364 @entity3218 @entity3219
The purpose of the use of this methodology is 1) to advance our capacity to protect individuals with antibody or vaccine for preventing or treating @entity3219 caused by the fungus @entity3218 and 2) to examine the role of virulence factors as target for therapy. To generate mAbs, @entity19 are immunized, the immune responses are assessed using a solid phase ELISA system developed in our laboratory, and the best responder @entity19 are selected for isolation of splenocytes for fusion with hybridoma cells. C57BL/6 @entity19 have been extensively used to study @entity3218 pathogenesis and provide the best model for obtaining the data required. In order to assess the role of the mAbs in @entity281 , @entity19 are intraperitoneally administered with either mAb to @entity3218 or isotype matched control mAb and then infected by either intravenous (i.v.), intraperitoneal (i.p.), or intranasal (i.n.) routes. In the scientific literature, efficacy of mAbs for @entity364 in @entity19 relies on mortality as an end point, in conjunction with colony forming units (CFU) assessments at earlier time points. Survival (time to death) studies are necessary as they best represent @entity1 disease. Thus, efficacy of our intervention would not adequately be established without survival curves. This is also true for establishing efficacy of vaccine or testing of mutants for virulence. With @entity3219 , the @entity19 often go from being energetic to dead over several hours. The capacity of an intervention such as the administration of a mAb may initially protect an animal from disease, but the disease can relapse which would not be realized in short CFU experiments. In addition to survival and fungal burden assays, we examine the inflammatory responses to @entity281 (histology, cellular recruitment, cytokine responses). For survival/time to death experiments, the @entity19 are infected and monitored at least twice daily for signs of morbidity. To assess fungal burden, histopathology, and cytokine responses, the @entity19 are euthanized at various times after @entity281 . Animal experiments are performed according to the guidelines of the Institute for Animal Studies of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
