Candida albicans Carriage in Children with Severe Early Childhood Caries (S-ECC) and Maternal Relatedness

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 11; no. 10; p. e0164242
• Main Authors: Xiao, Jin, Moon, Yonghwi, Li, Lihua, Rustchenko, Elena, Wakabayashi, Hironao, Zhao, Xiaoyi, Feng, Changyong, Gill, Steven R., McLaren, Sean, Malmstrom, Hans, Ren, Yanfang, Quivey, Robert, Koo, Hyun, Kopycka-Kedzierawski, Dorota T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 14.10.2016; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Age; Analysis; Antibiotics; Antifungal Agents - pharmacology; Bacitracin; Biochemistry; Biofilms; Biology and Life Sciences; Biophysics; Birth weight; Candida; Candida albicans; Candida albicans - drug effects; Candida albicans - genetics; Candida albicans - isolation & purification; Caspofungin; Child, Preschool; Childhood; Children; Clustering; Correlation; Correlation analysis; Correlation coefficient; Correlation coefficients; Cross-Sectional Studies; Daycare; Demographics; Demography; Dental caries; Dental Caries - diagnosis; Dental Caries - microbiology; Dental Plaque - microbiology; Dentistry; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Disease; DNA; Endonuclease; Epidemiology; Female; Genetic Loci; Genomes; Genomics; Humans; Infant; Male; Medicine and Health Sciences; Multilocus Sequence Typing; Nucleases; Nucleotide sequence; Oral cavity; Oral hygiene; Pediatrics; People and Places; Public health; Regression analysis; Research and Analysis Methods; Saliva; Saliva - microbiology; Statistical analysis; Streptococcus infections; Streptococcus mutans; Streptococcus mutans - genetics; Streptococcus mutans - isolation & purification; Studies; Teeth; United States > US; China
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0164242

Candida albicans has been detected together with Streptococcus mutans in high numbers in plaque-biofilm from children with early childhood caries (ECC). The goal of this study was to examine the C. albicans carriage in children with severe early childhood caries (S-ECC) and the maternal relatedness. Subjects in this pilot cross-sectional study were recruited based on a convenient sample. DMFT(S)/dmft(s) caries and plaque scores were assessed during a comprehensive oral exam. Social-demographic and related background information was collected through a questionnaire. Saliva and plaque sample from all children and mother subjects were collected. C. albicans were isolated by BBL™ CHROMagar™ and also identified using germ tube test. S. mutans was isolated using Mitis Salivarius with Bacitracin selective medium and identified by colony morphology. Genetic relatedness was examined using restriction endonuclease analysis of the C. albicans genome using BssHII (REAG-B). Multilocus sequence typing was used to examine the clustering information of isolated C. albicans. Spot assay was performed to examine the C. albicans Caspofungin susceptibility between S-ECC children and their mothers. All statistical analyses (power analysis for sample size, Spearman's correlation coefficient and multiple regression analyses) were implemented with SAS 9.4. A total of 18 S-ECC child-mother pairs and 17 caries free child-mother pairs were enrolled in the study. Results indicated high C. albicans carriage rate in the oral cavity (saliva and plaque) of both S-ECC children and their mothers (>80%). Spearman's correlation coefficient also indicated a significant correlation between salivary and plaque C. albicans and S. mutans carriage (p<0.01) and caries severity (p<0.05). The levels of C. albicans in the prepared saliva and plaque sample (1ml resuspension) of S-ECC children were 1.3 ± 4.5 x104 cfu/ml and 1.2 ± 3.5 x104 cfu/ml (~3-log higher vs. caries-free children). Among 18 child-mother pairs, >60% of them demonstrated identical C. albicans REAG-B pattern. C. albicans isolated from >65% of child-mother pairs demonstrated similar susceptibility to caspofungin in spot assay, while no caspofungin resistant strains were seen when compared with C. albicans wild-type strain SC5314. Interestingly, the regression analysis showed that factors such as antibiotic usage, birth weight, inhaler use, brushing frequency, and daycare attendance had no significant effect on the oral carriage of C. albicans in the S-ECC children. Our results reveal that both the child with S-ECC and the mother were highly infected with C. albicans, while most of the strains were genetically related, suggesting that the mother might be a source for C. albicans acquisition in the oral cavity of children affected by the disease.