ABSTRACT
Yeast-like fungi belonging to the genus Candida are the major cause of fungal infections in immunocompromised patients including transplant recipients, human immunodeficiency virus patients, as well as patients undergoing chemotherapy and other treatment. There are several factors implied to take part in the development of the candidal infection and one of these factors is extracellular aspartic proteinase produced by the fungi. Candidal species are clearly and notoriously opportunistic pathogens, that is, they incite disease in the host whose immune system has been impaired, damaged, or is innately dysfunctional. There are several reviews focused on the evidence for and against the possibility that the extracellular Candidas aspartic proteinases are virulence factors of candidal infections. The data on the specificity of candidal-secreted proteinases taken together with the complexity of the multiple forms of these enzymes present in the genome of each strain of Candida yeast represent a challenging task for the design of tight binding inhibitors of these enzymes.
