       Document 0706
 DOCN  M9640706
 TI    Elevated aspartic proteinase secretion and experimental pathogenicity of
       Candida albicans isolates from oral cavities of subjects infected with
       human immunodeficiency virus.
 DT    9604
 AU    De Bernardis F; Chiani P; Ciccozzi M; Pellegrini G; Ceddia T; D'Offizzi
       G; Quinti I; Sullivan PA; Cassone A; Department of Bacteriology and
       Medical Mycology, Istituto; Superiore di Sanita, Rome, Italy.
 SO    Infect Immun. 1996 Feb;64(2):466-71. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE
       MED/96145065
 AB    Isolates of Candida albicans from the oral cavities of subjects at
       different stages of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection or
       uninfected controls were examined for (i) production of aspartic
       proteinase(s), a putative virulence-associated factor(s); (ii) the
       presence in the fungal genome of two major genes (SAP1 and SAP2) of the
       aspartic proteinase family; and (iii) experimental pathogenicity in a
       murine model of systemic infection. It was found that the fungal
       isolates from symptomatic patients secreted, on average, up to eightfold
       more proteinase than the isolates from uninfected or HIV-infected but
       asymptomatic subjects. This differential property was stably expressed
       by the strains even after years of maintenance in stock cultures.
       Moreover, representative high-proteinase isolates were significantly
       more pathogenic for mice than low-proteinase isolates of C. albicans.
       The characters high proteinase and increased virulence were not
       associated with a single molecular type or category identifiable through
       DNA fingerprinting or pulsed-field electrophoretic karyotype, and both
       SAP1 and SAP2 genes were present in both categories of isolates, on the
       same respective chromosomes. In conclusion, our data suggest that during
       HIV infection more-virulent strains or biotypes of C. albicans which are
       identifiable by direct analysis of virulence determinants are selected.
       It also appears that the biotype switch to increased aspartic proteinase
       and virulence properties occurs before the HIV-infected subject enters
       the symptomatic stage and overt AIDS.
 DE    Animal  Aspartic Proteinases/GENETICS/*SECRETION  Candida
       albicans/ENZYMOLOGY/*PATHOGENICITY  Genes, Fungal  Human  HIV
       Infections/*MICROBIOLOGY  Male  Mice  Mouth/*MICROBIOLOGY  Rabbits
       Support, Non-U.S. Gov't  Virulence  JOURNAL ARTICLE

       SOURCE: National Library of Medicine.  NOTICE: This material may be
       protected by Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.Code).

