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. 2021 Nov 13;10(11):1396.
doi: 10.3390/antibiotics10111396.

The Glucocorticoid PYED-1 Disrupts Mature Biofilms of Candida spp. and Inhibits Hyphal Development in Candida albicans

Anna Esposito  1 , Antonella Migliaccio  2 , Vita Dora Iula  3 , Raffaele Zarrilli  2 , Annalisa Guaragna  1 , Eliana De Gregorio  4
Affiliations

The Glucocorticoid PYED-1 Disrupts Mature Biofilms of Candida spp. and Inhibits Hyphal Development in Candida albicans

Anna Esposito et al. Antibiotics (Basel). .

Abstract

Invasive Candida infections have become a global public health problem due to the increase of Candida species resistant against antifungal therapeutics. The glucocorticoid PYED-1 (pregnadiene-11-hydroxy-16α,17α-epoxy-3,20-dione-1) has antimicrobial activity against various bacterial taxa. Consequently, it might be considered for the treatment of Candida infections. The antifungal activity of PYED-1 was evaluated against several fungal strains that were representative of the five species that causes the majority of Candida infections-namely, Candida albicans, Candida glabrata, Candida tropicalis, Candida parapsilosis and Candida krusei. PYED-1 exhibited a weak antifungal activity and a fungistatic effect on all five Candida species. On the other hand, PYED-1 exhibited a good anti-biofilm activity, and was able to eradicate the preformed biofilms of all Candida species analyzed. Moreover, PYED-1 inhibited germ tube and hyphae formation of C. albicans and reduced adhesion of C. albicans to abiotic surfaces by up to 30%.

Keywords: Candida spp.; anti-biofilm agents; antifungal agents; glucocorticoid.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The corticosteroid drug deflazacort (DFZ) and its synthetic precursor PYED-1.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Eradication biofilm assay. The effect of treatment with 128, 64 and 32 μg/mL of PYED-1 on preformed biofilm of Candida species. The metabolic activities of biofilm cells (A) and biofilm biomass (B) were measured by XTT reduction assay and CV staining, respectively. All experiments were performed in triplicate. Asterisks indicate a statistically significant difference (** p-value ≤ 0.01 and *** p-value ≤ 0.001 from the nontreated controls without PYED-1).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Light-microscopy images taken at 100× magnification of C. albicans ATCC 10231 stained with 0.3% crystal violet, without (A) or with the addition of PYED-1 solutions at 2 µg/mL (B), 4 µg/mL (C), 8 µg/mL (D), 16 µg/mL (E) and 32 µg/mL (F).
Figure 4
Figure 4
The adhesion of C. albicans with the addition of different concentrations of PYED-1. The adhesion was measured after 90 min of addition of PYED-1 by CV staining. All experiments were performed in triplicate. Asterisks indicate a statistically significant difference (*** p-value ≤ 0.001 from the nontreated controls without PYED-1).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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