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Updated July 3rd, 2021 at 16:15 IST

All-Women team from IIT-Delhi develops 'antifungal strategy' to fight eye infections

IIT Delhi all-women research team develops an ‘antifungal strategy’ to fight fungal keratitis. This fungal eye infection is the leading cause of mono blindness.

Reported by: Dipaneeta Das
IIT Delhi
IMAGE: IIT Delhi Twitter | Image:self
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An all-women IIT Delhi research team is all set to develop an ‘antifungal strategy’ for better treatment of fungal eye infections like fungal keratitis. The team of researchers is led by Prof. Archana Chugh from Kusuma School of Biological Sciences and includes her doctoral students – Dr. Aastha Jain, Harsha Rohira, and Sujithra Shankar. Along with them, there is Dr. Susmita G Shah, an Ophthalmologist and Cornea Specialist from Dr. CM Shah Memorial Charitable Trust and Eye Life, Mumbai. 

Considering this development to be a breakthrough in the “Make in India” campaign, Professor Archana Chugh said, “This is a great example of “Make in India”; however, a few hurdles persist for us before this novel conjugate can enter the clinics and is useful to patients. With promising results obtained in the animal studies, we are hopeful that the Biotechnology/ Pharmaceutical industry will come forward for its clinical trials.”

Antifungal strategy for fungal eye infection

According to the press release from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, “The team has successfully developed a novel peptide-based antifungal strategy for enhanced Natamycin penetration. The developed peptide-drug conjugate showed an appreciable antifungal effect in the lab.” The institute also said that the drugs which are available are “less effective, especially in diseases due to poor drug penetration, poor bioavailability, and antifungal efficacy”.

 “According to the WHO, fungal keratitis is a leading cause of monocular blindness i.e, blindness in one eye, in the developing world. According to a recent study published in Lancet, the highest annual incidence per 1 lakh people is reported in Southern Asia and India accounts for more than 50% of the fungal keratitis cases out of total microbial keratitis cases,” it said.

What is Fungal Keratitis? 

Fungal keratitis is a fungal eye infection that is caused in the cornea by the Fusarium, Candida, and Aspergillus species of fungi. According to the WHO, this fungal eye infection is a leading cause of monocular blindness, i.e. blindness in one eye. As said in the IIT Delhi press release, this fungal eye infection infects about 1 lakh people in Southern Asia and India accounts for more than 50% of the cases out of the total keratitis cases. 

The “antifungal strategy” for fungal eye infection explained

The IIT Delhi all-women researcher team has successfully developed a novel peptide-based antifungal strategy for “enhanced Natamycin penetration,” said a statement from the IIT Delhi press release. Furthermore, The peptide-drug conjugate also showed an “appreciable antifungal effect in the lab.” According to Prof Chugh, “These peptides are known to have the ability to carry molecules with them in the cells. Therefore, when poorly permeable Natamycin was attached to the peptide, the formed complex showed better antifungal effect.” The novel conjugate also showed ‘5-fold higher’ penetration during lab tests and resulted in complete resolution of fungal eye infection as compared to its former US-FDA approved Natamycin suspension.

The research in the lab was carried out under the supervision of Dr. Sikha Yadav, Head of Animal facility at the National Institute of Biologicals, Noida. Ophthalmologist and Cornea Specialist Dr. Shah expressed her excitement and said that the antifungal strategy currently awaits ‘clinical trial with the participation of the Industry and other relevant agencies.’ She concluded by expressing that she is looking forward to ‘collaboration between clinicians and scientists’ to develop new and better drugs, which shall improve patient care in the days to come.  

 

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Published July 3rd, 2021 at 16:14 IST

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