Candida albicans is a common human fungal pathogen. The previous study revealed that quinone compounds showed antimicrobial activity against C. albicans by inhibiting cell growth. However, it was unclear whether quinones have other antifungal effects against C. albicans in addition to fungicidal effects. In this study, we assessed the inhibitory activity of a total of 25 quinone compounds against C. albicans morphological transition, which is essential for the pathogenicity of C. albicans. Several quinones exhibited strong inhibition of mycelium formation by C. albicans SC5314. Three leading compounds, namely hypocrellins A, B and C, also exhibited marked attenuation of C. albicans SC5314 virulence in both human cell lines and mouse infection models. These three compounds significantly suppressed the proliferation of C. albicans SC5314 cells in a mouse mucosal infection model. Intriguingly, hypocrellins not only attenuated the cytotoxicity of a nystatin‐resistant C. albicans strain but also showed excellent synergistic effects with antifungal agents against both wild‐type C. albicans SC5314 and the drug‐resistant mutant strains. In addition, hypocrellins A, B and C interfered with the biological functions and virulence of various clinical Candida species, suggesting the promising potential of these compounds for development as new therapeutic agents against infections caused by Candida pathogens.

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次乳清蛋白化合物的抗真菌活性及其与抗菌剂对白色念珠菌的协同作用

白色念珠菌是人类常见的真菌病原体。先前的研究表明，醌类化合物通过抑制细胞生长而显示出对白色念珠菌的抗菌活性。但是，不清楚醌类除杀菌作用外是否还对白色念珠菌具有抗真菌作用。在这项研究中，我们评估了总共25种醌类化合物对白色念珠菌形态学转变的抑制活性，这对于白色念珠菌的致病性至关重要。几个醌对白色念珠菌SC5314的菌丝体形成具有强烈的抑制作用。三个主要化合物，即降乳素A，B和C，也显示出白色念珠菌的显着衰减人细胞系和小鼠感染模型中的SC5314毒力。这三种化合物在小鼠粘膜感染模型中显着抑制了白色念珠菌SC5314细胞的增殖。令人着迷的是，降糖蛋白不仅减弱了耐制霉菌素的白色念珠菌菌株的细胞毒性，而且还显示出与抗真菌剂同时对抗野生型白色念珠菌SC5314和耐药突变株的优异协同作用。此外，hypercrellins A，B和C干扰了各种临床念珠菌物种的生物学功能和毒力，这表明这些化合物有望成为开发新的抗念珠菌感染药物的潜力。 病原体。