Heterogeneity of oral isolates of Candida albicans in HIV-positive patients: correlation between candidal carriage, karyotype and disease stage

Abstract

Opportunist infections involving Candida albicans often develop in HIV-positive patients and oral lesions tend to become more frequent as the disease progresses. Previous studies have shown contrasting results concerning the variability of the pulsed-®eld gel electrophoresis (PFGE) subtypes of C. albicans observed in HIV-positive patients. Carriage of C. albicans was determined by an oral rinse technique; 41 strains of C. albicans (78% serotype A and 22% serotype B) were isolated. There was a direct correlation between candidal load (cfu/ml) and the blood HIV load, whereas there was an inverse correlation with the stage of disease and the CD4 cell counts. The PFGE patterns of isolates were variable with regard to the number and positions of bands. The variability of the band sizes in some run positions showed a Gaussian distribution. Generally, the most frequent size variants were associated with the strains with the highest cfu/ml and lowest CD4 counts (<200 cells/ìl). These ®ndings suggest a possible strain selection over time during disease progression, especially in HIV-positive subjects with low CD4 counts.

Systemic neonatal candidosis: the karyotyping of Candida albicans strains isolated from neonates and health-workers

“…[5][6][7][8][9] Our results are in good agreement with those reported in previous studies on PFGE typing of C. albicans where the karyotype pattern consists mainly of six or seven bands, but more rarely eight bands. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] Differences in the patterns obtained may be related to technical variations in PFGE technique used. [7][8][9][10]17 It is important to point out that the number of bands revealed by PFGE does not necessarily correspond to the number of the yeast chromosomes.…”

“…[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] Differences in the patterns obtained may be related to technical variations in PFGE technique used. [7][8][9][10]17 It is important to point out that the number of bands revealed by PFGE does not necessarily correspond to the number of the yeast chromosomes. Indeed, homologous chromosomes may migrate separately possibly because of deletion, translocation, insertion of movable DNA or differences in the amount or distribution of repetitive sequences.…”

Induction of salivary antibodies to inhibitCandida albicansadherence to human epithelial cells by tonsillar immunization in rabbits

“…One report showed that serotype A was found to be dominant (78% serotype A and 22% serotype B) in strains isolated from the human oral cavity (Capoluongo et al, 2000). Therefore, salivary antibodies induced by tonsillar immunizations of C. albicans ATCC 18804 can be expected to be useful in the prevention of C. albicans infection in most humans.…”

Oropharyngeal Candida colonization in human immunodeficiency virus infected patients

“…Capoluongo et al. also reported that Candida colonization intensity increased with the progress of HIV infection and Candida intensity was higher in patients with CD4+ T cell count lower than 200 cells/μL.…”

“…Capoluongo et al. observed a strong correlation between the lg cfu/mL of C. albicans and the lg viral load copies/mL ( r = 0.85, p < 0.001).…”