Association of chronic Candida albicans respiratory infection with a more severe lung disease in patients with cystic fibrosis

Abstract

Chronic respiratory colonization of C. albicans is associated with worsening of FEV1 in CF. Prospective studies are needed to confirm this finding and to corroborate whether indeed C. albicans drives a deleterious lung phenotype.

Iron acquisition in the cystic fibrosis lung and potential for novel therapeutic strategies

“…Non-culture-based identification methods have increased the detection of fungi in CF, with Aspergillus fumigatus being the most frequently isolated (Sabino et al, 2015) and a decline in lung function appears to be a risk factor for Aspergillus fumigatus, which in turn is associated with a further deterioration in chronically colonized patients (Noni et al, 2015). Candida albicans, a frequent colonizer of the CF lung, is also associated with a significant decline in lung function in chronically colonized patients (Gileles-Hillel et al, 2015). Despite the complexity of the microbiome of the CF lung, a recent study has shown that the microbial community is stable during periods of clinical stability.…”

Symposium Summaries

“…The structure of the ion conduction pathway is consistent with the large body of SCAM data aimed at mapping pore-lining residues (16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25). The discontinuity of helix TM8, which makes two sharp breaks inside the membrane, is a notable feature of CFTR.…”

“…While C. albicans is most prevalent species, C. glabrata, C. parapsilosis, C. dublinensis, and C. tropicalis also have been reported. Chronic Candida colonization has been confirmed (20)(21), and has been associated with increased hospital-treated exacerbations and greater rate of lung function decline in some studies (22)(23) but not in others (24). The black yeast Exophiala dermatitidis (previously called Wangiella) may have overtaken A. terreus as the third-most common mold in CF with reported prevalence of 5 to 17% and evidence of pathogenicity based on immune and inflammatory markers in some patients (25)(26).…”

“…In contrast, a longitudinal analysis in infants with CF revealed that bacterial diversity in the airway and the gut increased over time as CF infants developed a core microbiota (21). In comparison to healthy controls, infants with CF have significantly different nasopharyngeal microbiota composition (22,23). Antibiotics are a significant influence on the microbiome.…”

“…Antibiotics are a significant influence on the microbiome. In infants, antibiotic use is associated with increases in gram-negative bacteria (23) and decreases in potentially beneficial commensal bacteria in the upper airway (22). In adults, antibiotics have been shown to be a strong driver of decreased diversity (24).…”