Recent Developments on Using Nanomaterials to Combat Candida albicans.

Bingxin Li,Xi Wang,Yu Qi,Lingping Xie,Luyao Pan,Haofeng Zhang,Jiahui Shou,Xiaojian Yan

doi:10.3389/fchem.2021.813973

Abstract

Vaginal candidiasis (VC) is a common disease of women and the main pathogen is Candida albicans (C. albicans). C. albicans infection incidence especially its drug resistance have become a global health threat due to the existence of C. albicans biofilms and the low bioavailability of traditional antifungal drugs. In recent years, nanomaterials have made great progresses in the field of antifungal applications. Some researchers have treated fungal infections with inorganic nanoparticles, represented by silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) with antifungal properties. Liposomes, polymeric nanoparticles, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), and covalent organic frameworks (COFs) were also used to improve the bioavailability of antifungal drugs. Herein, we briefly introduced the recent developments on using above nanomaterials to combat C. albicans in antifungal applications.

Highlights

Vaginal candidiasis (VC) is the second common mucosal infection of the vagina, with around 80–95% cases caused by Candida species, especially Candida albicans (C. albicans)
Biofilms can achieve immune escape of fungal cells in the host (Nett, 2014; Vera-González and Shukla, 2020) and secrete a dense extracellular polymer, which can serve as a physical barrier during antifungal therapy, making most antifungal drugs difficult to pass through this barrier and less effective at their target position (Singh et al, 2018; Vera-González and Shukla, 2020; Talapko et al, 2021)
VERA-GONZÁLEZET et al successfully encapsulated anidulafungin into liposomes. These liposome formulations can inhibit planktonic C. albicans growth with a similar minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) to anidulafungin, but localize to the candida cells more quickly and perform better in penetrating fungal biofilms compared with free anidulafungin

Summary

Introduction

Vaginal candidiasis (VC) is the second common mucosal infection of the vagina, with around 80–95% cases caused by Candida species, especially Candida albicans (C. albicans). Biofilms can achieve immune escape of fungal cells in the host (Nett, 2014; Vera-González and Shukla, 2020) and secrete a dense extracellular polymer, which can serve as a physical barrier during antifungal therapy, making most antifungal drugs difficult to pass through this barrier and less effective at their target position (Singh et al, 2018; Vera-González and Shukla, 2020; Talapko et al, 2021). Nanoparticles have the potential to carry, stabilize and protect therapeutic payloads, penetrate extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), target fungal cells, making nanoparticle therapeutics for the treatment of candida biofilms become a promising strategy (Figure 2).

Results

Conclusion