Candida albicans biofilms and polymicrobial interactions

Abstract

Candida albicans is a common fungus of the human microbiota. While generally a harmless commensal in healthy individuals, several factors can lead to its overgrowth and cause a range of complications within the host, from localized superficial infections to systemic life-threatening disseminated candidiasis. A major virulence factor of C. albicans is its ability to form biofilms, a closely packed community of cells that can grow on both abiotic and biotic substrates, including implanted medical devices and mucosal surfaces. These biofilms are extremely hard to eradicate, are resistant to conventional antifungal treatment and are associated with high morbidity and mortality rates, making biofilm-associated infections a major clinical challenge. Here, we review the current knowledge of the processes involved in C. albicans biofilm formation and development, including the central processes of adhesion, extracellular matrix production and the transcriptional network that regulates biofilm development. We also consider the advantages of the biofilm lifestyle and explore polymicrobial interactions within multispecies biofilms that are formed by C. albicans and selected microbial species.

The Anti-Biofilm Efficacy of Caffeic Acid Phenethyl Ester (CAPE) In Vitro and a Murine Model of Oral Candidiasis

“…Perhaps one of the most significant transition events is the formation of biofilms, cellular communities that can adhere and proliferate in abiotic and biotic surfaces. Oral Candida biofilms are more resistant to standard antifungal treatments and present a higher relapse rates, which turn these infections into a considerable clinical challenge in dental practice that are difficult to eradicate ( Ponde et al., 2021 ).…”

“…Candida albicans is the most prevalent fungus in the human oral mycobiome (Bandara et al, 2019) and can be a harmless commensal organism or, upon appropriate conditions, transition to a pathogen. It possess several virulence factors that can lead to overgrowth and invasion of host tissues, causing a range of intraoral, pharyngeal, and perioral manifestations that determine different forms of oral candidiasis (Lewis and Williams, 2017;Hellstein and Marek, 2019;Ponde et al, 2021). Some of the most important virulence factors of C. albicans are the expressions of adhesins, the secretion of hydrolytic enzymes, its ability to transition from yeasts to hyphal and the high metabolic adaptability (Ciurea et al, 2020).…”

Spatially structured yeast communities: Understanding structure formation and regulation with omics tools

“…C. albicans often forms biofilms in host organisms, along with bacteria such as Klebsiella pneumoniae , Staphylococcus aureus , Streptococcus gordonii , Streptococcus mutans and others, and the coexistence of both organisms often results in the formation of a stronger and more resistant biofilm, compared to single species biofilms [15] , [67] . Omics (especially transcriptomics and proteomics) play an irreplaceable role in revealing the mutual metabolic relationships of microbial species in biofilm and identifying their specific markers ( Table 1 , Table S1) [50] .…”

GC-MS-Based Metabolomics Study of Single- and Dual-Species Biofilms of Candida albicans and Klebsiella pneumoniae

“…In this peculiar microenvironment, and during the different phases of biofilm formation, the products of microbial metabolism allow cells to communicate and share information. Therefore, interspecies interactions, ranging from synergistic relationships to competition among the different species in the biofilm, have been observed [4,5].…”