Comparative virulence of Candida auris with Candida haemulonii, Candida glabrata and Candida albicans in a murine model. Issue 6 (14th March 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Fakhim, Hamed; Vaezi, Afsane; Dannaoui, Eric; Chowdhary, Anuradha; Nasiry, Davood; Faeli, Leila; Meis, Jacques F.; Badali, Hamid
• Is Part Of: Mycoses. Volume 61:Issue 6(2018)
• Page Start: 377
• Page End: 382
• Publication Date: 2018-03-14
• Subjects: Candida auris -- disseminated candidiasis -- murine model -- pathogenicity -- survival study -- tissue burden; Pathogenic fungi -- Periodicals; Medical mycology -- Periodicals; 616.969
• DOI: 10.1111/myc.12754
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0933-7407

Abstract

Summary: The incidence of invasive fungal infections (IFIs) caused by uncommon Candida species with diverse virulence and susceptibility profiles has increased in recent years. Due to scarce clinical and experimental data on the pathogenicity of Candida auris, the aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the virulence of two rare clinically relevant species, C. auris and Candida haemulonii with Candida glabrata and Candida albicans in an immunocompetent murine model of disseminated infection. Immunocompetent ICR female mice were infected with three inoculum sizes (1 × 10 5, 1 × 10 6 and 1 × 10 7 CFU/mouse) of two C. auris strains and one isolate of C. haemulonii, C. glabrata and C. albicans . Tissue burden on days 5 and 10 postchallenge and mortality rate were used as virulence markers. A high virulence was found for C. albicans, followed by C. auris, C. glabrata and C. haemulonii, respectively. Candida albicans showed high virulence with a medium survival time of 9.5 days for mice infected with 1 × 10 7 CFU/mouse. For inocula at 1 × 10 6 and 1 × 10 7 CFU/mouse, there were significant differences in fungal burden at day 10 between C. albicans, C. auris and C. glabrata isolates compared with C. haemulonii ( P < .0001). Overall, no significant differences between C. albicans with C. auris and C. glabrata were observed in mice infected with three different inocula ( P > .05). In general, the highest fungal load of all isolates was detected in kidney followed by spleen, liver and lung tested with three different inocula on the two different experimental days. Histopathological examination revealed the abundant presence of yeast cells with pseudohyphae for C. albicans and only yeast cells for C. auris, C. glabrata and C. haemulonii, in all the kidney tissue samples. In conclusion, C. albicans is a highly virulent opportunistic fungus, as the clinical and experimental data demonstrate, and also our results demonstrate a low virulence of C. haemulonii in immunocompetent animals. Altogether, this study highlights the pathogenic potential of C. auris .