Novel strategies to fight Candida species infection

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the incidence of human fungal infections. The increase in cases of infection caused by Candida species, and the consequent excessive use of antimicrobials, has favored the emergence of resistance to conventional antifungal agents over the past decades. Consequently, Candida infections morbidity and mortality are also increasing. Therefore, new approaches are needed to improve the outcome of patients suffering from Candida infections, because it seems unlikely that the established standard treatments will drastically lower the morbidity of mucocutaneous Candida infections and the high mortality associated with invasive candidiasis. This review aims to present the last advances in the traditional antifungal therapy, and present an overview of novel strategies that are being explored for the treatment of Candida infections, with a special focus on combined antifungal agents, antifungal therapies with alternative compounds (plant extracts and essential oils), adjuvant immunotherapy, photodynamic therapy and laser therapy.

• Antifungal agents
• immunotherapy
• low-level laser therapy
• natural compounds
• photodynamic

Declaration of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest. The authors thank the FCT Strategic Project PEst-OE/EQB/LA0023/2013 and the Project “BioHealth – Biotechnology and Bioengineering approaches to improve health quality”, Ref. NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000027, co-funded by the Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (ON.2 – O Novo Norte), QREN, FEDER. The authors also acknowledge the project “Consolidating Research Expertise and Resources on Cellular and Molecular Biotechnology at CEB/IBB”, Ref. FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462 and the projects PTDC/EBB-EBI/120495/2010 and PTDC/SAU-MIC/119069/2010, from the Programa Operacional, Fatores de competitividade -- COMPETE and by national funds through FCT.