Estrogen Effects on Candida albicans: A Potential Virulence‐Regulating Mechanism
1Division of University Research, Infectious Disease Research Laboratory, and 2Department of Biochemistry, Des Moines University Osteopathic Medical Center, Des Moines, Iowa
Three Candida albicans strains were tested in the presence of 17‐β‐estradiol (10−6 M and 10−9 M) for increased growth and for enhanced survival during incubation at nonpermissive temperatures. All 3 test organisms showed increased growth in the presence of estradiol compared with estrogen‐free controls. Likewise, all 3 strains, when treated with estradiol, survived incubation at 48°C better than did controls. Cytoplasmic extracts were probed with an anti‐hsp90 antibody, and results suggested that intracellular hsp90 was up‐regulated in the presence of 10−9 M 17‐β‐estradiol. The results were confirmed by reverse‐transcriptase polymerase chain reaction with primers specific for C. albicans hsp90. A kinetic study revealed that peak hsp90 expression occurred within 2 h of exposure to 17‐β‐estradiol. In addition, estrogen increased the amount of cdr1 (Candida multidrug resistance) mRNA compared with cells not treated with estrogen. Coumarin and phenol also up‐regulated hsp90 and cdr1 mRNAs, indicating that the estrogen‐sensing and ‐response systems in C. albicans may lack specificity.
Received 20 October 1999; revised 4 January 2000; electronically published 13 April 2000.
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