Typically, established lab strains are widely used to study host-pathogen interactions. However, to better reflect the infection process, the experimental use of clinical isolates has come more into focus. Here, we analyzed the interaction of multiple vaginal isolates of the opportunistic fungal pathogen Candida albicans, the most common cause of vulvovaginal candidiasis in women, with key players of the host immune system: macrophages. We tested several strains isolated from asymptomatic or symptomatic women with acute and recurrent infections. While all clinical strains showed a response similar to the commonly used lab strain SC5314 in various in vitro assays, they displayed remarkable differences during interaction with macrophages. This coincided with significantly reduced β-glucan exposure on the cell surface, which appeared to be a shared property among the tested vaginal strains for yeast extract/peptone/dextrose-grown cells, which is partly lost when the isolates faced vaginal niche-like nutrient conditions. However, macrophage damage, survival of phagocytosis, and filamentation capacities were highly strain-specific. These results highlight the high heterogeneity of C. albicans strains in host-pathogen interactions, which have to be taken into account to bridge the gap between laboratory-gained data and disease-related outcomes in an actual patient.

中文翻译：

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临床白色念珠菌阴道分离物和实验室菌株在巨噬细胞相互作用期间表现出不同的行为。

通常，已建立的实验室菌株被广泛用于研究宿主-病原体相互作用。然而，为了更好地反映感染过程，临床分离株的实验使用更加受到关注。在这里，我们分析了机会性真菌病原体白色念珠菌（女性外阴阴道念珠菌病的最常见原因）的多种阴道分离物与宿主免疫系统的关键参与者：巨噬细胞的相互作用。我们测试了从患有急性和复发性感染的无症状或有症状女性中分离出的几种菌株。虽然所有临床菌株在各种体外试验中均表现出与常用实验室菌株 SC5314 相似的反应在与巨噬细胞相互作用的过程中，它们表现出显着的差异。这与细胞表面的 β-葡聚糖暴露显着减少相吻合，这似乎是酵母提取物/蛋白胨/葡萄糖生长细胞的测试阴道菌株之间的共同特性，当分离株面临类似阴道生态位的营养时，这种特性会部分丢失状况。然而，巨噬细胞损伤、吞噬作用的存活和成丝能力是高度菌株特异性的。这些结果突出了宿主-病原体相互作用中白色念珠菌菌株的高度异质性，必须考虑到这些差异以弥合实验室获得的数据与实际患者的疾病相关结果之间的差距。