Virulence and pathogenicity aspects in Candida albicans infections

Abstract

Candida albicans is a commensal yeast that often colonizes various parts of humans, mainly epithelial, dermal or mucosal (oral cavity, gastrointestinal and genital tract etc.) tissues, but also an opportunistic pathogen that can be involved in a wide range of asymptomatic to severe, invasive infections in immunodeficient individuals. It exhibits certain unique properties such as phenotypic switching (crucial for avoiding the immune system), unique mating pattern (both asexual and sexual) and haploinsufficiency. This fungus has been also known to be a major cause of oral and skin infections, with a higher number of cases occurring in HIV positive individuals. Strains isolated from different parts of the body exhibit certain differences in their morphology and properties, among which, biofilms formation ability needs to be better understood in order to design efficient antifungal strategies. This review paper gives a brief description of various aspects of Candida albicans pathogenesis.

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“…C. albicans is considered one of the major etiological agents of hospital-acquired infections, being also frequently associated with contamination of indwelling medical devices [72]. The phenotypic plasticity is a unique feature of many fungal species, including C. albicans, which is an extremely versatile, dimorphic yeast that can survive as a commensal in various environments, one of the adapting mechanisms being the switching from the yeast to filamentous forms [73]. S. aureus and C. albicans can be also found in multispecies biofilms, mutually potentiating their tolerance to antibiotics and disinfectants [74].…”