Fradin C, Thewes S, Zakikhany K, Albrecht A, Bader O, Kunze D, Hube B (2004): Transcriptional profiling of Candida albicans during infections
Mikologia Lekarska 11: 157-163.

Candida albicans is the most common fungal pathogen of man. Although the immune system of the healthy host normally prevents infections, C. albicans provide several sets of genes that enable the cells to adapt to the changing environmental conditions and to counteract the tissue and stage-specific immune responses in order to survive and proliferate and to cause infections. Several technologies are available to study the transcriptional regulation of genes during infection. In severely immunocompromised patients C. albicans may enter the bloodstream and disseminate within the body causing life-threatening systemic infections. In order to clarify how C. albicans responds to the challenge of human blood, we analysed the growth and transcription profile of C. albicans exposed to (i) human blood and (ii) fractions enriched in red cells, neutrophils, monocytes and lymphocytes, and plasma by using genomic microarrays. C. albicans cells exposed to neutrophils were cell growth arrested, showed enhanced expression of several genes involved in the response to nitrogen and carbohydrate starvation, and oxidative stress. In contrast, C. albicans cells not exposed to neutrophils (i.e. cells exposed to red cells, monocytes and lymphocytes, or plasma) proliferated, produced germ tubes, and had gene expression patterns that reflected physiologically activity. These data not only show that neutrophils play a key role during C. albicans bloodstream infections, but also that C. albicans may counteract neutrophil attack by expressing specific genes, which may promote systemic dissemination by allowing the fungus to survive and escape the bloodstream.