Therapeutic Intervention for Various Hospital Setting Strains of Biofilm Forming <i>Candida auris</i> with Multiple Drug Resistance Mutations Using Nanomaterial Ag-Silicalite-1 Zeolite

<i>Candida auris</i> (<i>C. auris</i>), an emerging multidrug-resistant microorganism, with limited therapeutical options, is one of the leading causes of nosocomial infections. The current study includes 19 <i>C. auris</i> strains collected from King Fahd Hospita...

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Main Authors: Hanan A. Aldossary, Suriya Rehman, B. Rabindran Jermy, Reem AlJindan, Afra Aldayel, Sayed AbdulAzeez, Sultan Akhtar, Firdos Alam Khan, J. Francis Borgio, Ebtesam Abdullah Al-Suhaimi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022-10-01
Series:Pharmaceutics
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4923/14/10/2251
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Summary:<i>Candida auris</i> (<i>C. auris</i>), an emerging multidrug-resistant microorganism, with limited therapeutical options, is one of the leading causes of nosocomial infections. The current study includes 19 <i>C. auris</i> strains collected from King Fahd Hospital of the University and King Fahad Specialist Hospital in Dammam, identified by <i>18S rRNA</i> gene and <i>ITS</i> region sequencing. Drug-resistance-associated mutations in <i>ERG11, TAC1B and FUR1</i> genes were screened to gain insight into the pattern of drug resistance. Molecular identification was successfully achieved using <i>18S rRNA</i> gene and <i>ITS</i> region and 5 drug-resistance-associated missense variants identified in the <i>ERG11</i> (F132Y and K143R) and <i>TAC1B</i> (H608Y, P611S and A640V) genes of <i>C. auris</i> strains, grouped into 3 clades. The prophylactic and therapeutic application of hydrothermally synthesized Ag-silicalite-1 (Si/Ag ratio 25) nanomaterial was tested against the 3 clades of clinical <i>C. auris</i> strains. 4wt%Ag/TiZSM-5 prepared using conventional impregnation technique was used for comparative study, and nano formulations were characterized using different techniques. The antibiofilm activity of nanomaterials was tested by cell kill assay, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and light microscopy. Across all the clades of <i>C. auris</i> strains, 4 wt%Ag/TiZSM-5 and Ag-silicalite-1 demonstrated a significant (<i>p</i> = 1.1102 × 10<sup>−16</sup>) inhibitory effect on the biofilm’s survival rate: the lowest inhibition value was (10%) with Ag-silicalite-1 at 24 and 48 h incubation. A profound change in morphogenesis in addition to the reduction in the number of <i>C.</i><i>auris</i> cells was shown by SEM and light microscopy. The presence of a high surface area and the uniform dispersion of nanosized Ag species displays enhanced anti-<i>Candida</i> activity, and therefore it has great potential against the emerging multidrug-resistant <i>C. auris</i>.
ISSN:1999-4923