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Effect of Dermaseptin S4 on C. albicans Growth and EAP1 and HWP1 Gene Expression

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Abstract

Increasing resistance and changes in the spectrum of Candida infections have generated considerable interest in the development of new antifungal molecules. The use of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) appears to be a promising approach. Frog skin AMPs (such as dermaseptins) have shown antimicrobial activity against several pathogens. In this study, we aimed to test the antimicrobial efficacy of dermaseptin S4 (DS4) against C. albicans. We determined the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of DS4, and investigated the effects of the DS4 at low concentrations on human primary gingival fibroblasts. Additionally, we evaluated the effect of DS4 on C. albicans growth, form changes, and biofilm formation, as well as the expression of certain virulent genes. Our data show that DS4 completely inhibits C. albicans growth at a concentration of 32 μg/mL referring to the MIC of DS4. It should be noted that even with low concentrations (below 16 μg/mL), DS4 still have significant growth reduction of C. albicans, but were not toxic to human gingival fibroblasts. DS4 inhibited the transition from yeast to hyphae, and decreased the biofilm formation by reducing the biofilm mass weight. Surface morphological changes in the yeast cell membrane were observed following exposure to DS4. The gene expression analyses revealed that DS4 significantly decreased the expression of EAP1 and HWP1 genes. Overall results suggest the potential use of DS4 as an antifungal therapy to prevent C. albicans pathogenesis.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank M. Amine Belmadani for his help with the extraction of the total RNA, and Dr. Abdelhabib Semlali for explanation about PCR analyses.

Funding

This work was supported by a grant (FO104103) from the “Fonds Émile-Beaulieu”, Laval University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Groupe de Recherche en Écologie Buccale, Faculté de Médecine Dentaire, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada

    Johan Samot & Mahmoud Rouabhia

  2. Université de Bordeaux UFR d’odontologie, Bordeaux, France

    Johan Samot

  3. Unive. Bordeaux, ISVV, Unité de recherche Œnologie, USC 1366 INRAE, 4577, Villenave d’Ornon, EA, France

    Johan Samot

  4. Centre hospitalier universitaire de Bordeaux pôle de médecine et chirurgie bucco-dentaire, Bordeaux, France

    Johan Samot

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  1. Johan Samot
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Correspondence to Mahmoud Rouabhia.

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The use of primary human gingival fibroblasts was approved by the Ethic Committee of Université Laval with approval number: 2017-014.

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Samot, J., Rouabhia, M. Effect of Dermaseptin S4 on C. albicans Growth and EAP1 and HWP1 Gene Expression. Probiotics & Antimicro. Prot. 13, 287–298 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12602-020-09685-0

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