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Infect. Immun., Feb 1996, 466-471, Vol 64, No. 2
F De Bernardis, P Chiani, M Ciccozzi, G Pellegrini, T Ceddia, G D'Offizzi, I Quinti, PA Sullivan and A Cassone
Isolates of Candida albicans from the oral cavities of subjects at
different stages of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection or
uninfected controls were examined for (i) production of aspartic
proteinase(s), a putative virulence-associated factor(s); (ii) the presence
in the fungal genome of two major genes (SAP1 and SAP2) of the aspartic
proteinase family; and (iii) experimental pathogenicity in a murine model
of systemic infection. It was found that the fungal isolates from
symptomatic patients secreted, on average, up to eightfold more proteinase
than the isolates from uninfected or HIV- infected but asymptomatic
subjects. This differential property was stably expressed by the strains
even after years of maintenance in stock cultures. Moreover, representative
high-proteinase isolates were significantly more pathogenic for mice than
low-proteinase isolates of C. albicans. The characters high proteinase and
increased virulence were not associated with a single molecular type or
category identifiable through DNA fingerprinting or pulsed-field
electrophoretic karyotype, and both SAP1 and SAP2 genes were present in
both categories of isolates, on the same respective chromosomes. In
conclusion, our data suggest that during HIV infection more-virulent
strains or biotypes of C. albicans which are identifiable by direct
analysis of virulence determinants are selected. It also appears that the
biotype switch to increased aspartic proteinase and virulence properties
occurs before the HIV-infected subject enters the symptomatic stage and
overt AIDS.
Copyright © 1996, American Society for Microbiology
Elevated aspartic proteinase secretion and experimental pathogenicity of Candida albicans isolates from oral cavities of subjects infected with human immunodeficiency virus
Department of Bacteriology and Medical Mycology, Istituto Superiore di Sanita, Rome, Italy.
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