New Delhi, March 22 : An antibody-based therapy has shown promise to treat lethal mucormycosis -- a fungal infection that caused serious infection among Covid-19 patients.

Mucormycosis is caused by fungi Mucorales and has high mortality rates in people with weakened immune systems. The disease caused serious infection among Covid-19 patients treated with high doses of corticosteroids with mortality rates close to 60 per cent.

While vaccines and immunotherapies are available for viruses and bacteria, effective antifungal immunotherapies for mucormycosis, specifically, are lacking.

Researchers from the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) discussed the use of monoclonal antibodies to target a key fungal cell surface protein -- CotH -- which enables the fungus to invade human cells and cause mucormycosis.

'Mucormycosis is a devastating disease that usually occurs in patients who suffer from weakened immune systems such as patients with poorly controlled diabetes, cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, and transplant patients,' said Ashraf Ibrahim, an investigator at The Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

In the study, published in the Science Translational Medicine journal, the researchers developed an antibody called VX-01 -- a humanised antibody that has proven more effective at binding to the fungus compared to the original antibody.

Although both protect from infection, the humanised antibody reduces immunogenicity and enhances therapeutic effect when used in humans.

Early tests show that VX-01 is safe, with no harmful effects on healthy cells. This suggests that VX-01 could be a promising treatment to help fight mucormycosis in people with weakened immune systems.

'Our humanised monoclonal antibody allows antifungal drug therapy to reach infected tissues because it prevents fungal cells from damaging human cells and blood vessels,' Ibrahim said.

Ibrahim added that the disease has had a steady increase over the last four decades due to an increase in people with diabetes and cancer, as well as advancement in transplant procedures.

/IANS