Non-albicans Candida (NAC) species infections are of increasing concern owing to rises in complications associated with antifungal resistance, necessitating novel approaches for combating these fungal pathogens. Now, Kunyeit et al. report probiotic yeasts that inhibit virulence of several NAC species, including multidrug-resistant Candida auris, an important emerging pathogen. The authors tested the ability of two food-derived yeasts — Saccharomyces cerevisiae (strain KTP) and Issatchenkia occidentalis (strain ApC) — to inhibit traits such as adhesion, filamentation and biofilm formation in several NAC species. Probiotic treatment prevented adhesion to abiotic surfaces and cultured gut epithelial cells, and inhibited the formation of mixed-culture biofilms as well as biofilms of NAC species and Candida albicans in vitro. Furthermore, experiments in Caenorhabditis elegans suggest that exposure to the probiotic yeasts attenuates NAC species infection in vivo, highlighting a potential new strategy to prevent or treat candidiasis.
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Kunyeit, L. et al. Probiotic yeasts inhibit virulence of non-albicans Candida species. mBio https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.02307-19 (2019)
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York, A. A probiotic for candidiasis?. Nat Rev Microbiol 17, 723 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-019-0296-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-019-0296-0
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