Glabridin triggers over-expression of apoptosis inducing factor (AIF) gene in Candida albicans .

Background and Purpose: Candida albicans is a prevalent human fungal pathogen that can cause a wide spectrum of diseases, from superficial mucosal infections to systemic disorders, in patients with impaired immunity. Glabridin is a pyranoisoflavan originally extracted from root extract of Glycyrrhiza glabra . Glabridin can also mediate apoptosis in yeast cells by changing the mitochondrial membrane potential, activation of caspase-like proteases, and DNA cleavage. The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanism of action of glabridin in C. albicans .

Materials and Methods: Candida albicans ATCC14053 was applied as the standard strain. Total RNA was extracted from the isolate under glabridin-treated and untreated conditions. To evaluate the alternations in the apoptosis inducing factor ( AIF ) gene expression, real-time polymerase chain reaction (real-time -PCR) was performed, and the obtained data were analyzed using REST software.

Results: Expression of the AIF gene was represented as the ratio of expression relative to the reference gene. According to the REST® output, the expression of the AIF gene increased significantly ( P<0.05 ) under the glabridin-treated condition.

Conclusion: Our results suggested that glabridin may induce apoptosis through the caspase-independent route and might be considered as an anti- Candida agent.