Chitosan ameliorates Candida auris virulence in a Galleria mellonella infection model.

Chitosan ameliorates Candida auris virulence in a Galleria mellonella infection model. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2020 Jun 01;: Authors: Arias LS, Butcher MC, Short B, McKloud E, Delaney C, Kean R, Monteiro DR, Williams C, Ramage G, Brown JL Abstract Candida auris has emerged as a multi-drug resistant nosocomial pathogen over the last decade. Outbreaks of the organism in healthcare facilities has resulted in life-threatening invasive candidiasis in over 40 countries worldwide. Resistance by C. auris to conventional antifungal drugs such as fluconazole and amphotericin B means that alternative therapeutics must be explored. As such, this study served to investigate the efficacy of a naturally derived polysaccharide called chitosan against aggregative (Agg) and non-aggregative (non-Agg) isolates of C. auris in vitro and in vivo In vitro results indicated that chitosan was effective against planktonic and sessile forms of Agg and non-Agg C. auris. In a Galleria mellonella model to assess C. auris virulence, chitosan treatment was shown to ameliorate killing effects of both C. auris phenotypes (NCPF 8973 and NCPF 8978, respectively) in vivo Specifically, chitosan reduced the fungal load and increased survival rates of infected Galleria, whilst treatment alone was non-toxic to the larvae. Finally, chitosan treatment appeared to induce a stress-like gene expression response in NCPF 8973 in the larvae likely arising from a protective resp...
Source: Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy - Category: Microbiology Authors: Tags: Antimicrob Agents Chemother Source Type: research