Antifungal, anti-biofilm and adhesion activity of the essential oil of <i>Myrtus communis</i> L. against <i>Candida</i> species

<div><p><i>Candida</i> species belong to the normal microbiota of the oral cavity, gastrointestinal tract and vagina. The increasing incidence of drug-resistant pathogens and the toxicity of the antifungal compounds have drawn the attention towards the antimicrobial activity of natural products, an inexpensive alternative. The aim of this work was to evaluate the adhesion activity, the biofilm formation and the action of the <i>Myrtus communis</i> L. essential oil (EO) on the biofilm formation towards three species isolated from clinical samples: <i>C</i><i>andida</i><i> albicans</i>, <i>C</i><i>andida</i><i> parapsilosis</i> and <i>C</i><i>andida</i><i> tropicalis</i>. Furthermore, we evaluated the antimycotic activity of the EO towards the three species, and the results were compared with the minimum inhibitory concentration of six antimycotics. The activity of the EO against <i>C. albicans</i> and <i>C. parapsilosis</i> was better than that obtained against <i>C. tropicalis</i>; moreover, the strains used in the assay were adhesive and biofilm producer, and the effect of myrtle EO on the biofilm formation yielded encouraging results.</p></div

Immune response of control subjects to different MAP antigens.

<p>Immune response of control subjects to different MAP antigens.</p

Immune response of T2DM patients to different MAP antigens.

<p>Immune response of T2DM patients to different MAP antigens.</p

Immune response of T1DM patients to different MAP antigens.

<p>Immune response of T1DM patients to different MAP antigens.</p

Figure 1

<p>A. Evaluation of the reactivity of plasma samples representing 57 T1DM patients, 57 T2DM patients and 79 healthy controls against the fMptD (phage). B. Reactivity of plasma samples obtained from 57 T1DM patients, 57 T2DM patients and 79 healthy controls against the MptD peptide (B). Data are presented as values of OD405 observed following ELISA as described in the text. The median value for each group is indicated by a dark solid horizontal line. Data shown are from a representative experiment out of the three performed.</p

Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis using the presence of MAP and <i>SLC11A1</i> 274C/T genotype to predict diabetes status among patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus and non-diabetic controls.

*<p>OR (95% CI)  =  Odds ratio (95% confidence interval).</p>**<p>MAP  =  Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis.</p>***<p>Ref  =  reference category.</p

IFN-γ response to rHBHAms in short- and long-term-“<i>in vitro</i>” stimulation and to QFT-IT: ROC analysis.

<p>A ROC analysis for the response to rHBHAms obtained in whole blood by short-term stimulation (<b>A</b>), long- term stimulation (<b>B</b>) and QFT-IT (<b>C</b>) was performed using the active TB patients and the subjects without active TB as comparator groups.</p

Demographic and clinical characteristics of the subjects enrolled in the study.

<p> <b>Footnotes: TB: tuberculosis; IQR: interquartile range; BCG: Bacillus Calmètte et Guerin; QFT-IT:QuantiFERON TB Gold In Tube; NA: not available.</b></p

Memory responses to rHBHAms.

<p>Memory response (long-term stimulation) to rHBHAms was evaluated in the subjects who scored negative on the short- test. A significant difference was found between the IFN-γ value obtained in the short-term stimulation compared to the long-term stimulation among those without active TB (p = 0.0003). Differently, no significant difference was found between the short- and long- term stimulation among those with active TB (p = 0.4). The data are shown after the subtraction of the results obtained in the unstimulated samples. Dotted lines indicate the cut-off obtained for the short- and long-term tests.</p

CD4⁺ effector memory T lymphocytes produce IFN-γ in response to rHBHAms.

<p>The phenotypic characteristics of the cells responding to the rHBHAms in the HBHA-responders were evaluated. As shown in a representative subject, a significant IFN-γ response to the rHBHAms was observed for CD4⁺ T-cells (<b>D</b>) over the negative control (<b>B</b>), whereas no response was detected for CD8⁺ T-cells (<b>C</b>) over the negative control (<b>A</b>). To characterize this immune response, naive and memory phenotypes were studied. Most of the CD4⁺ T-cells IFN-γ responding to the rHBHAms presented an effector memory phenotype (84%) defined as CD45R0⁺CD62L (<b>E</b>).</p