Open AccessAntifungal activity of etomidate against growing biofilms of fluconazole-resistant Candida spp. strains, binding to mannoproteins and molecular docking with the ALS3 protein
Author(s) -
Lívia Gurgel do Amaral Valente Sá,
Cecília Rocha da Silva,
João Batista de Andrade Neto,
Francisca Bruna Stefany Aires do Nascimento,
Fátima Daiana Dias Barroso,
Lisandra Juvêncio da Silva,
Vitória Pessoa de Farias Cabral,
Amanda Dias Barbosa,
Jacilene Silva,
Emmanuel Silva Marinho,
Manoel Odoríco de Moraes,
Maria Erivanda França Rios,
Bruno Coêlho Cavalcanti,
Iri Sandro Pampolha Lima,
Hélio Vitoriano Nobre Júnior
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of medical microbiology/journal of medical microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.91
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1473-5644
pISSN - 0022-2615
DOI - 10.1099/jmm.0.001241
Subject(s) - candida albicans , candida tropicalis , etomidate , candida parapsilosis , microbiology and biotechnology , biofilm , corpus albicans , fluconazole , biology , chemistry , antifungal , biochemistry , bacteria , pharmacology , genetics , propofol
This study evaluated the effect of etomidate against biofilms of Candida spp. and analysed through molecular docking the interaction of this drug with ALS3, an important protein for fungal adhesion. Three fluconazole-resistant fungi were used: Candida albicans , Candida parapsilosis and Candida tropicalis . Growing biofilms were exposed to etomidate at 31.25–500 µg ml −1 . Then, an ALS3 adhesive protein from C. albicans was analysed through a molecular mapping technique, composed of a sequence of algorithms to perform molecular mapping simulation based on classic force field theory. Etomidate showed antifungal activity against growing biofilms of resistant C. albicans, C. parapsilosis and C. tropicalis at all concentrations used in the study. The etomidate coupling analysis revealed three interactions with the residues of interest compared to hepta-threonine, which remained at the ALS3 site. In addition, etomidate decreased the expression of mannoproteins on the surface of C. albicans . These results revealed that etomidate inhibited the growth of biofilms.