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Usefulness of the Non-conventional Caenorhabditis elegans Model to Assess Candida Virulence

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Abstract

Invasive candidiasis is caused mainly by Candida albicans, but other Candida species have increasing etiologies. These species show different virulence and susceptibility levels to antifungal drugs. The aims of this study were to evaluate the usefulness of the non-conventional model Caenorhabditis elegans to assess the in vivo virulence of seven different Candida species and to compare the virulence in vivo with the in vitro production of proteinases and phospholipases, hemolytic activity and biofilm development capacity. One culture collection strain of each of seven Candida species (C. albicans, Candida dubliniensis, Candida glabrata, Candida krusei, Candida metapsilosis, Candida orthopsilosis and Candida parapsilosis) was studied. A double mutant C. elegans AU37 strain (glp-4;sek-1) was infected with Candida by ingestion, and the analysis of nematode survival was performed in liquid medium every 24 h until 120 h. Candida establishes a persistent lethal infection in the C. elegans intestinal tract. C. albicans and C. krusei were the most pathogenic species, whereas C. dubliniensis infection showed the lowest mortality. C. albicans was the only species with phospholipase activity, was the greatest producer of aspartyl proteinase and had a higher hemolytic activity. C. albicans and C. krusei caused higher mortality than the rest of the Candida species studied in the C. elegans model of candidiasis.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Consejería de Educación, Universidades e Investigación [GIC 15/78 IT-990-16] and the Departamento de Industria, Comercio y Turismo [S-PR11UN003, S-PE13UN121] of Gobierno Vasco-Eusko Jaurlaritza, the Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria [FIS PI11/00203], the Fundación ONCE “Oportunidad al Talento” and the Fondo Social Europeo [to C.M-A.], and the Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea [UFI 11/25 and scholarship from the ZabaldUz program to I.D-l-P.]. Some strains were provided by the CGC, which is funded by NIH Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (P40 OD010440).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Inmunología, Microbiología y Parasitología, Unidad de formación e investigación multidisciplinar ‘Microbios y Salud’ (UFI 11/25), Facultad de Medicina y Enfermería, Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU), Bilbao, Spain

    Marcelo Ortega-Riveros, Iker De-la-Pinta, Cristina Marcos-Arias, Guillermo Quindós & Elena Eraso

  2. Departamento de Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública, Facultad de Medicina y Enfermería, Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU), Bilbao, Spain

    Guillermo Ezpeleta

  3. Servicio de Medicina Preventiva e Higiene Hospitalaria, Complejo Hospitalario de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain

    Guillermo Ezpeleta

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  1. Marcelo Ortega-Riveros
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  2. Iker De-la-Pinta
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  3. Cristina Marcos-Arias
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  4. Guillermo Ezpeleta
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  6. Elena Eraso
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Correspondence to Elena Eraso.

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Conflict of interest

In the past 5 years, Elena Eraso has received grant support from Astellas Pharma and Pfizer SLU. Guillermo Quindós has received grant support from Astellas Pharma, Gilead Sciences, Pfizer SLU, Scynexis and Merck Sharp and Dohme. In addition, he has been an advisor/consultant to Merck Sharp and Dohme and has been paid for talks on behalf of Abbvie, Astellas Pharma, Esteve Hospital, Gilead Sciences, Merck Sharp and Dohme, Pfizer SLU and Scynexis. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed above.

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Ortega-Riveros, M., De-la-Pinta, I., Marcos-Arias, C. et al. Usefulness of the Non-conventional Caenorhabditis elegans Model to Assess Candida Virulence. Mycopathologia 182, 785–795 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11046-017-0142-8

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