Abstract
Fungal infections are increasing in prevalence worldwide, especially in immunocompromised individuals. Given the emergence of drug-resistant fungi and the fact that there are only three major classes of antifungal drugs available to treat invasive fungal infections, there is a need to develop alternative therapeutic strategies effective against fungal infections. Candida albicans is a commensal of the human microbiota that is also one of the most common fungal pathogens isolated from clinical settings. C. albicans possesses several virulence traits that contribute to its pathogenicity, including the ability to form drug-resistant biofilms, which can make C. albicans infections particularly challenging to treat. Here, we explored red, green, and blue visible lights alone and in combination with common photosensitizing compounds for their efficacies at inhibiting and disrupting C. albicans biofilms. We found that blue light inhibited biofilm formation and disrupted mature biofilms on its own and that the addition of photosensitizing compounds improved its antibiofilm potential. Red and green lights, however, inhibited biofilm formation only in combination with photosensitizing compounds but had no effects on disrupting mature biofilms. Taken together, these results suggest that photodynamic therapy may be an effective non-drug treatment for fungal biofilm infections that is worthy of further exploration.
Highlights
Fungi cause a wide range of diseases in humans ranging from superficial skin to life-threatening disseminated infections, especially in immunocompromised and critically ill individuals [1]
We found that, compared to the untreated control, red and green lights alone had no effect on biofilm formation in any of the three biofilm assays (Figure 2A,B), and that blue light alone had no effect at inhibiting biofilm formation in the adherence inhibition assay (Figure 2C)
We found that compared to the untreated control, blue light alone, and each photosensitizing compound alone, blue light in combination with any of the three photosensitizing compounds had no effect on biofilm formation in the adherence inhibition biofilm assay (Figure 5A)
Summary
Fungi cause a wide range of diseases in humans ranging from superficial skin to life-threatening disseminated infections, especially in immunocompromised and critically ill individuals [1]. It is an opportunistic pathogen that can cause both superficial skin and mucosal infections as well as severe systemic infections under permissive host environmental conditions [3,4]. C. albicans has multiple virulence mechanisms that contribute to its pathogenicity, including the ability to form physically recalcitrant and drug-resistant biofilms, that can make C. albicans infections challenging to treat [5]. Biofilms are communities of adherent microbial cells encased in extracellular matrices that are often resistant and/or tolerant to antimicrobial agents and the host immune response [6,7,8]. The C. albicans biofilm life cycle occurs in four sequential stages: adherence, initiation, maturation, and dispersal (Figure 1A).
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