From intestinal colonization to systemic infections: Candida albicans translocation and dissemination

Jakob L Sprague; Lydia Kasper; Bernhard Hube

doi:10.1080/19490976.2022.2154548

From intestinal colonization to systemic infections: Candida albicans translocation and dissemination

Gut Microbes. 2022 Jan-Dec;14(1):2154548. doi: 10.1080/19490976.2022.2154548.

Authors

Jakob L Sprague¹, Lydia Kasper¹, Bernhard Hube^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Microbial Pathogenicity Mechanisms, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knöll Institute, Jena, Germany.
² Institute of Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany.

Abstract

Candida species are the most prevalent cause of invasive fungal infections, of which Candida albicans is the most common. Translocation across the epithelial barrier into the bloodstream by intestinal-colonizing C. albicans cells serves as the main source for systemic infections. Understanding the fungal mechanisms behind this process will give valuable insights on how to prevent such infections and keep C. albicans in the commensal state in patients with predisposing conditions. This review will focus on recent developments in characterizing fungal translocation mechanisms, compare what we know about enteric bacterial pathogens with C. albicans, and discuss the different proposed hypotheses for how C. albicans enters and disseminates through the bloodstream immediately following translocation.

Keywords: Candida albicans; dissemination; fungi; gut colonization; intestinal translocation.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Candida albicans*
Gastrointestinal Microbiome*
Humans
Intestines

Grants and funding

JLS and BH were supported by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft—DFG) within the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC)/Transregio (TRR) 124 “FungiNet” project C1 (DFG project number 210879364). LK was supported by the DFG Priority Program 2225 “Exit strategies of intracellular pathogens.” The authors declare that they have no relevant financial or non-financial competing interests to disclose.