Abstract
Candida albicans is a common opportunistic pathogen that can cause serious infection by blood transmission. C. albicans enters the blood circulation and adheres to the endothelial cells of the vascular wall. However, the detailed mechanism of the effect of C. albicans on the endothelial cells remains unclear. In this study, the microarray expression profile of human umbilical vein endothelial cells exposed to C. albicans was analyzed. The 191 up-regulated genes were enriched in TNF, T cell receptor, and NF-kappa B signaling pathways. The 71 down-regulated genes were enriched in pyruvate metabolic, purine nucleotide metabolic, purine nucleotide biosynthetic, and humoral immune response processes. Gene set enrichment analysis showed that apoptosis, oxidative phosphorylation, IL6/JAK/STAT3 signaling pathways were enriched. Moreover, two hub genes with a high degree of connectivity, namely, MYC and IL6, were selected. Molecular screening of traditional Chinese medicine libraries was performed on the basis of the structure of MYC protein. The okanin had the highest docking score. MYC might be used as molecular targets for treatment. In addition, okanin may inhibit the infection of C. albicans. Thus, MYC can be subjected to further research.
Highlights
Candida albicans is a polymorphic yeast and one of the most important pathogens that causes iatrogenic infections in immunodeficient populations [1]
The data quality was assessed by calculating residuals.sign, residuals, weight, relative log expression (RLE), normalized unscaled standard errors (NUSE), and RNA degradation
To clarify the effects of C. albicans on endothelial cells, we downloaded the GEO database of GSE7355 from the GEO database
Summary
Candida albicans is a polymorphic yeast and one of the most important pathogens that causes iatrogenic infections in immunodeficient populations [1]. It is a common parasite of humans that can be found in the oropharynx, gastrointestinal tract, and vaginal mucosa and does not cause human diseases. When the host’s local micro-environment is dysregulated, or the mucosal barrier is impaired, C. albicans can cause mucosal infections, thereby causing diseases such as thrush, fungal vaginitis, and rash [2, 3]. C. albicans can invade the mucosal epithelium and vascular endothelium, thereby causing disseminated infections in susceptible populations [4]. No mechanism study has been conducted on the effects of C. albicans on endothelial cells
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