Combination of Antifungal Drugs and Protease Inhibitors Prevent Candida albicans Biofilm Formation and Disrupt Mature Biofilms
Biofilms formed by the fungal pathogen are resistant to many of the antifungal agents commonly used in the clinic. Previous reports suggest that protease inhibitors, specifically inhibitors of aspartyl proteases, could be effective antibiofilm agents. We screened three protease inhibitor libraries,...
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Published in | Frontiers in microbiology Vol. 11; p. 1027 |
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Main Authors | , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Switzerland
Frontiers Media S.A
25.05.2020
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Biofilms formed by the fungal pathogen
are resistant to many of the antifungal agents commonly used in the clinic. Previous reports suggest that protease inhibitors, specifically inhibitors of aspartyl proteases, could be effective antibiofilm agents. We screened three protease inhibitor libraries, containing a total of 80 compounds for the abilities to prevent
biofilm formation and to disrupt mature biofilms. The compounds were screened individually and in the presence of subinhibitory concentrations of the most commonly prescribed antifungal agents for
infections: fluconazole, amphotericin B, or caspofungin. Although few of the compounds affected biofilms on their own, seven aspartyl protease inhibitors inhibited biofilm formation when combined with amphotericin B or caspofungin. Furthermore, nine aspartyl protease inhibitors disrupted mature biofilms when combined with caspofungin. These results suggest that the combination of standard antifungal agents together with specific protease inhibitors may be useful in the prevention and treatment of
biofilm infections. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Present address: Megha Gulati, Molecular Cell – Cell Press, Cambridge, MA, United States Edited by: Juliana Campos Junqueira, São Paulo State University, Brazil This article was submitted to Infectious Diseases, a section of the journal Frontiers in Microbiology Reviewed by: Rohitashw Kumar, University at Buffalo, United States; Isabel M. Miranda, University of Porto, Portugal |
ISSN: | 1664-302X 1664-302X |
DOI: | 10.3389/fmicb.2020.01027 |