Glabridin triggers over-expression of apoptosis inducing factor (AIF) gene in Candida albicans

Authors

1 Invasive Fungi Research Center, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran / Department of Medical Mycology, School of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran

2 Faculty of Medicine, Sari Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sari, Iran

Abstract

Background and Purpose: Candida albicans is a prevalent human fungal pathogen that can cause a wide spectrum of diseases, from superficial mucosal infections to systemic disorders, in patients with impaired immunity. Glabridin is a pyranoisoflavan originally extracted from root extract of Glycyrrhiza glabra. Glabridin can also mediate apoptosis in yeast cells by changing the mitochondrial membrane potential, activation of caspase-like proteases, and DNA cleavage. The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanism of action of glabridin in C. albicans.
Materials and Methods: Candida albicans ATCC14053 was applied as the standard strain. Total RNA was extracted from the isolate under glabridin-treated and untreated conditions. To evaluate the alternations in the apoptosis inducing factor (AIF) gene expression, real-time polymerase chain reaction (real-time -PCR) was performed, and the obtained data were analyzed using REST software.
Results: Expression of the AIF gene was represented as the ratio of expression relative to the reference gene. According to the REST® output, the expression of the AIF gene increased significantly (p <0.05) under the glabridin-treated condition.
Conclusion: Our results suggested that glabridin may induce apoptosis through the caspase-independent route and might be considered as an anti-Candida agent.
Keywords: AIF gene, Apoptosis, Candida albicans, Glabridin

Keywords

Current Medical Mycology
Volume 4, Issue 3
September 2018
Pages 19-22

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