Araújo, Daniela

Barbosa, Ana Teresa Moutinho

Henriques, Mariana

Silva, Sónia Carina

Universidade do Minho: RepositoriUM

  POSTER 01 Anti-EFG1 oligomer able to control Candida albicans filamentation in human body fluids ANA BARBOSA1; DANIELA ARAÚJO1; MARIANA HENRIQUES1; SÓNIA SILVA1 1 Biological Engineering Center of the University of Minho, Braga, Portugal  Antisense oligomers (ASOs) and their analogues have been successfully utilized to silence gene expression for the treatment of many human diseases, however the control of yeast’s virulence determinants has never been exploited before. In this sense, this work is based on the key hypothesis that if a pathogen’s genetic sequence is a determinant of virulence, it will be possible to synthesize a nucleic acid mimic that will bind to the mRNA produced and will degrade it, blocking its translation into protein and consequently reduce its phenotype. EFG1 is an important determinant of virulence that is involved in regulation of Candida albicans filamentation. Thus, our main goal was to validate the in vitro  applicability of an ASO, previously synthesized, targeting the EFG1 mRNA.  For that, the performance and stability of the anti-EFG1oligomer in human body fluids (artificial saliva and urine) was evaluated by determining its ability to inhibit C. albicans filamentation and to reduce EFG1 gene expression. The results demonstrated that the anti-EFG1 oligomer is capable to reduce not only the rate of C. albicans filamentation but also the size of their filaments. RT-PCR assays demonstrated EFG1 gene expression reduction of 80% and 60% in the artificial saliva and urine, respectively. Since, the anti-EFG1 oligomer maintains its activity and performance after 24h in human body fluids, this work reinforces a possible applicability of ASOs for controlling virulence genes and thus reduce C. albicans virulence factors, such as filamentation.   Keywords:  Candida albicans; Candidiasis; Virulence factors; Antisense therapy.    15

Anti-EFG1 oligomer able to control Candida albicans filamentation in human body fluids

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Universidade do Minho: RepositoriUM