Protective Efficacy of Anti-Hyr1p Monoclonal Antibody against Systemic Candidiasis Due to Multi-Drug-Resistant Candida auris .

is a multi-drug-resistant fungal pathogen that can survive outside the host and can easily spread and colonize the healthcare environment, medical devices, and human skin. causes serious life-threatening infections (up to 60% mortality) in immunosuppressed patients staying in such contaminated healthcare facilities. Some isolates of are resistant to virtually all clinically available antifungal drugs. Therefore, alternative therapeutic approaches are urgently needed. Using in silico protein modeling and analysis, we identified a highly immunogenic and surface-exposed epitope that is conserved between hyphal-regulated protein (Cal-Hyr1p) and Hyr1p/Iff-like proteins in (Cau-HILp). We generated monoclonal antibodies (MAb) against this Cal-Hyr1p epitope, which recognized several clinical isolates of representing all four clades. An anti-Hyr1p MAb prevented biofilm formation and enhanced opsonophagocytic killing of by macrophages. When tested for in vivo efficacy, anti-Hyr1p MAb protected 55% of mice against lethal systemic infection and showed significantly less fungal burden. Our study is highly clinically relevant and provides an effective alternative therapeutic option to treat infections due to MDR .