# CANDIDIASIS IN CANCER--ARABINITOL AND POLYOL

> **NIH NIH R01** · MOUNT SINAI SCHOOL OF MEDICINE OF CUNY · 1988 · $90,929

## Abstract

Disseminated candidiasis is a life-threatening infection in
immunosuppressed cancer patients; also, at risk are transplant recipients,
surgical and burn patients, and AIDS victims.  Because of the lack of rapid
and reliable diagnostic techniques (antimortem blood cultures are positive
in only 25-50% of cases) and the protean nature of symptoms, 80% of the
cases are not diagnosed early enough to permit effective treatment.  The
proposed work is based upon rapid gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric
techniques for the quantification in serum of arabinitol, a unique
metabolite of Candida and eight polyols.  Specific aims:  1) Monitoring
serum arabinitol concentrations (conc.):  Does a sudden increase of
arabinitol conc. to "above normal" signal the onset of fungal infection?
Do increasing arabinitol conc. indicate progression of the disease?  Do one
or two "above normal" arabinitol values followed by return to normal
represent transient fungemia?  Could the monitoring of arabinitol conc.
guide the intensification or cessation of antifungal therapy?  Do
arabinitol conc. decrease with successful antifungal therapy?  Will
antifungal therapy be more effective and less toxic when initiated at an
early stage, possibly before the onset of clinical symptoms, as indicated
by increasing arabinitol concentrations?  2) Improve specificity:  Are
serum polyol values useful for the differentiation of increased arabinitol
conc. caused by Candida septicemia from those resulting from renal
insufficiency in the absence of fungal infections?  Can the
separation/quantification of D and L arabinitol be used for differentiation
of renal insufficiency?  Are there additional characteristic biochemical
markers of Candida?  3) Extension of applications:  Can the arabinitol
conc. of sputum or bronchial washings aid the diagnosis of esophageal
candidiasis?  Are there diagnostic uses of the arabinitol and/or polyol
concentrations in urine and spinal fluid?  Techniques proposed,
particularly the monitoring of patients are risk, should permit early
definitive diagnosis of disseminated candidiasis which, in turn, will
permit more effective and less toxic therapy.  Success of this work will
directly benefit patients with potentially fatal Candida infections.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3179494
- **Project number:** 5R01CA040050-03
- **Recipient organization:** MOUNT SINAI SCHOOL OF MEDICINE OF CUNY
- **Principal Investigator:** JOHN ROBOZ
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1988
- **Award amount:** $90,929
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1986-03-01 → 1990-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3179494

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3179494, CANDIDIASIS IN CANCER--ARABINITOL AND POLYOL (5R01CA040050-03). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-24 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3179494. Licensed CC0.

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