Weerasekera MM, Wijesinghe GK, Sampath A, Dilhari A, Madhumal T, Dilrukshi R, Willaddara R, Karunathilaka S, Gunasekara C, Fernando N, Samaranayake L. The genotypes and virulence attributes of C. albicans isolates from oral leukoplakia.
Med Oral Patol Oral Cir Bucal 2021;
26:e786-e794. [PMID:
34023840 PMCID:
PMC8601635 DOI:
10.4317/medoral.24748]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2021] [Accepted: 05/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Background
There is a debate as to whether some types of oral leucoplakias (OL) are caused by Candida species, and whether they contribute to the malignant transformation, associated with a minority of such lesions. As no detailed population analysis of yeast isolates from OL is available, we evaluated the virulence attributes, and genotypes of 35 C. albicans from OL, and compared their genotypes with 18 oral isolates from healthy individuals.
Material and Methods
The virulence traits evaluated were esterase, phospholipase, proteinase, haemolysin and coagulase production, and phenotypic switching activity, and yeast adherence and biofilm formation. DNA from OL and control yeasts were evaluated for A, B or C genotype status.
Results
Phospholipase, proteinase, and coagulase activity and biofilm formation was observed in 80%, 66%, 97 % and 77 % of the isolates, respectively. Phenotypic switching was detected in 8.6%, while heamolytic, and esterase activity and adherence were noted in all isolates.
Conclusions
The genotype A was predominant amongst both the OL and control groups. Due to the small sample size of our study a larger investigation to define the role of candidal virulent attributes in the pathogenicity of OL is warranted, and the current data should serve as a basis until then.
Key words:C. albicans, oral cavity, leukoplakia, virulence factors, genotyping.
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