title: Dissecting Candida albicans Infection from the Perspective of C. albicans Virulence and Omics Approaches on Host-Pathogen Interaction: A Review.
abstract: Candidabloodstream infections remain the most frequent life-threatening fungal disease, withCandida albicansaccounting for 70% to 80% of theCandidaisolates recovered from infected patients. In nature,Candidaspecies are part of the normal commensal flora in mammalian hosts. However, they can transform into pathogens once the host immune system is weakened or breached. More recently, mortality attributed toCandidainfections has continued to increase due to both inherent and acquired drug resistance inCandida, the inefficacy of the available antifungal drugs, tedious diagnostic procedures, and a rising number of immunocompromised patients. Adoption of animal models, viz. minihosts, mice, and zebrafish, has brought us closer to unraveling the pathogenesis and complexity ofCandidainfection in human hosts, leading towards the discovery of biomarkers and identification of potential therapeutic agents. In addition, the advancement ofomicstechnologies offers a holistic view of theCandida-host interaction in a non-targeted and non-biased manner. Hence, in this review, we seek to summarize past and present milestone findings onC. albicansvirulence, adoption of animal models in the study ofC. albicansinfection, and the application ofomicstechnologies in the study ofCandida-host interaction. A profound understanding of the interaction between host defense and pathogenesis is imperative for better design of novel immunotherapeutic strategies in future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, University Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia. cvk717@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Voon Kin
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Chin
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia. tzeyan.lee@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Tze Yan
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia. rusliza@upm.edu.my.
authors.forename: Basir
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rusliza
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Science, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia. cpp@upm.edu.my.
authors.forename: Pei Pei
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Chong
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002176:Candida albicans / Q000276:immunology / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000502:physiology*; D002177:Candidiasis / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D006801:Humans; D014774:Virulence
keywords: C. albicans; candida; candidiasis; host–pathogen interaction; omics