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Diagnosis, Resistance and Treatment of Infections by Candida Species

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A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Medical Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2021)

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. László Majoros

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Guest Editor

Medical Microbiology, Clinical Centre, University of Debrecen, Nagyerdei krt. 98, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary
Interests: antifungal susceptibility testing; antifungal pharmacodynamics; epidemiology of Candida species; animal models
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The frequency of invasive Candida infections has increased substantially in the last few decades, especially among patients with hematological malignancies and patients treated in Intensive Care Units. Delay in diagnosis and in the initiation of the correct antifungal therapy may contribute to high mortality rates among severely ill patients. Moreover, increasing proportion of non-albicans Candida species from sterile body sites poses diagnostic, as well as therapeutic, challenges, which has been further enhanced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Clinical, intrinsic and acquired resistance mechanisms contribute to therapeutic failures in common and uncommon Candida species.

This Special Issue invites researchers to submit reviews or original research papers concerned with the following topics:

-Clinical application of the traditional (histopathology, culture, morphological characteristics and assimilation tests) and non-culture-based (B-D-glucan and T2MR) diagnostic methods.

-Limitations of the currently approved antifungal agents in the treatment of invasive Candida infections.

-New antifungal agents currently tested in phase II or III trials (i.e., fosmanogepix, rezafungin, and ibrexafungerp).

-Antifungal resistance mechanism in different Candida species. Molecular methods for detection of resistance in routine laboratory practice.

-Therapeutic options against drug-resistant Candida species including multi-drug resistant C. auris isolates.

-Antifungal pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics, as well as animal studies.

Dr. László Majoros
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Invasive Candida infections
Non-albicans Candida species
Candida auris
Non-culture-based diagnostic methods
Antifungal susceptibility testing

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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12 pages, 2745 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Boswellia serrata Extract as an Antibiofilm Agent against Candida spp.

by Petr Jaroš, Maria Vrublevskaya, Kristýna Lokočová, Jana Michailidu, Irena Kolouchová and Kateřina Demnerová

Microorganisms 2022, 10(1), 171; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/microorganisms10010171 - 13 Jan 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2308

Abstract

The use of antibiotics or antifungals to control infections caused by pathogenic microorganisms is currently insufficiently effective because of their emerging resistance. Thanks to the ability of microorganisms to form a biofilm and thus increase their resistance to administered drugs even more, modern medicine faces the task of finding novel substances to combat infections caused by them. In this regard, the effects of essential oils or plant extracts are often studied. Among the relatively neglected plants is Boswellia serrata, which has a high content of biologically active boswellic acids. In this study, we focused on one of the most common nosocomial infections, which are caused by Candida species. The most common representative is C. albicans, although the number of infections caused by non-albicans species has recently been increasing. We focused on the antifungal activity of Boswellia serrata extract Bioswellix against planktonic and adhering cells of Candida albicans, Candida parapsilosis and Candida krusei. The antifungal activity against adhering cells was further explored by determining the metabolic activity of cells (MTT) and determining the total amount of biofilm using crystal violet. Boswellic acid-containing plant extract was shown to suppress the growth of a suspension population of all tested Candida species. Boswellia serrata extract Bioswellix was most effective in inhibiting C. albicans biofilm formation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diagnosis, Resistance and Treatment of Infections by Candida Species)

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13 pages, 2192 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Composition and Biological Activity of Vitis vinifera Winter Cane Extract on Candida Biofilm

by Zdeněk Kodeš, Maria Vrublevskaya, Markéta Kulišová, Petr Jaroš, Martina Paldrychová, Karolína Pádrová, Kristýna Lokočová, Andrea Palyzová, Olga Maťátková and Irena Kolouchová

Microorganisms 2021, 9(11), 2391; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/microorganisms9112391 - 19 Nov 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1778

Abstract

Vitis vinifera canes are waste material of grapevine pruning and thus represent cheap source of high-value polyphenols. In view of the fact that resistance of many pathogenic microorganisms to antibiotics is a growing problem, the antimicrobial activity of plant polyphenols is studied as one of the possible approaches. We have investigated the total phenolic content, composition, antioxidant activity, and antifungal activity against Candida biofilm of an extract from winter canes and a commercially available extract from blue grapes. Light microscopy and confocal microscopy imaging as well as crystal violet staining were used to quantify and visualize the biofilm. We found a decrease in cell adhesion to the surface depending on the concentration of resveratrol in the cane extract. The biofilm formation was observed as metabolic activity of Candida albicans, Candida parapsilosis and Candida krusei biofilm cells and the minimum biofilm inhibitory concentrations were determined. The highest inhibition of metabolic activity was observed in Candida albicans biofilm after treatment with the cane extract (30 mg/L) and blue grape extract (50 mg/L). The composition of cane extract was analyzed and found to be comparatively different from blue grape extract. In addition, the content of total phenolic groups in cane extract was three-times higher (12.75 g_GA/L). The results showed that cane extract was more effective in preventing biofilm formation than blue grape extract and winter canes have proven to be a potential source of polyphenols for antimicrobial and antibiofilm treatment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diagnosis, Resistance and Treatment of Infections by Candida Species)

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13 pages, 3758 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Comparison of In Vitro Killing Activity of Rezafungin, Anidulafungin, Caspofungin, and Micafungin against Four Candida auris Clades in RPMI-1640 in the Absence and Presence of Human Serum

by Renátó Kovács, Zoltán Tóth, Jeffrey B. Locke, Lajos Forgács, Gábor Kardos, Fruzsina Nagy, Andrew M. Borman and László Majoros

Microorganisms 2021, 9(4), 863; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/microorganisms9040863 - 16 Apr 2021

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 2956

Abstract

Candida auris is an emerging and frequently multidrug-resistant pathogen against which the echinocandins are the preferred therapeutic option. We compared killing activities of anidulafungin, caspofungin, micafungin, and rezafungin against 13 isolates representing four C. auris clades (South Asian n = 3; East Asian n = 3; South African n = 3; South American n = 4, of which two were of environmental origin). Minimum inhibitory concentration MICs and killing kinetics in RPMI-1640 and RPMI-1640 plus 50% serum (50% serum) were determined. The four echinocandins were never fungicidal and induced large aggregates in RPMI-1640 and, less markedly, in 50% serum. Colony forming unit CFU decreases were found more consistently in 50% serum than in RPMI-1640. Isolates from the East Asian clade were killed at ≥1–≥ 4 mg/L with all echinocandins regardless of media. Anidulafungin and micafungin produced killing at peak drug serum concentration (8 mg/L) against environmental but not clinical isolates from the South American and the South African clades. Micafungin at ≥8 mg/L but not anidulafungin produced CFU decreases against the South Asian clade as well. In 50% serum, rezafungin at ≥1–≥ 8 mg/L produced killing against all four clades. The next generation echinocandin, rezafungin, showed the same or better activity at clinically attainable trough concentration regardless of media, compared with anidulafungin, caspofungin, and micafungin against all four tested C. auris clades. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diagnosis, Resistance and Treatment of Infections by Candida Species)

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Review

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20 pages, 1004 KiB

Open AccessReview

What Do We Know about Candida auris? State of the Art, Knowledge Gaps, and Future Directions

by Victor Garcia-Bustos, Marta D. Cabanero-Navalon, Amparo Ruiz-Saurí, Alba C. Ruiz-Gaitán, Miguel Salavert, María Á. Tormo and Javier Pemán

Microorganisms 2021, 9(10), 2177; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/microorganisms9102177 - 19 Oct 2021

Cited by 28 | Viewed by 7943

Abstract

Candida auris has unprecedently emerged as a multidrug resistant fungal pathogen, considered a serious global threat due to its potential to cause nosocomial outbreaks and deep-seated infections with staggering transmissibility and mortality, that has put health authorities and institutions worldwide in check for more than a decade now. Due to its unique features not observed in other yeasts, it has been categorised as an urgent threat by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other international agencies. Moreover, epidemiological alerts have been released in view of the increase of healthcare-associated C. auris outbreaks in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This review summarises the current evidence on C. auris since its first description, from virulence to treatment and outbreak control, and highlights the knowledge gaps and future directions for research efforts. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diagnosis, Resistance and Treatment of Infections by Candida Species)

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