Candida albicans induces mucosal bacterial dysbiosis that promotes invasive infection
Fig 5
Effect of cortisone immunosuppression and C. albicans infection on oral bacteria.
Mice were immunosuppressed by subcutaneous injection with cortisone acetate and inoculated with C. albicans SC5314 as described in methods. A: Tongue mucosa-associated bacterial loads in untreated, cortisone-treated, and cortisone-treated C. albicans-infected mice. Tongues were weighed, homogenized, serially diluted and plated for Candida and bacterial burdens. Fungal burdens in infected mice are expressed as log CFU/gm of tissue (green squares, left Y axis). Results for bacteria are expressed as CFU/gm of tissue (left Y-axis, red dots) and log 16S rRNA gene copy numbers/gm of tissue (right Y-axis, blue squares). Bacterial biomass increased with cortisone treatment, but a further significant increase was noted in the cortisone treated + C. albicans group. Data shown are from 2 independent mouse experiments, with 5–10 mice per group; bars represent means ± SEM. *p<0.05, **p<0.005, ***p<0.002. B: Genus level quantification of Enterococcus on tongue tissues by qPCR. Data represent change in percentage of Enterococcus load in all groups over untreated control mice. Mice receiving cortisone had a reduction in Enterococcus burdens while C. albicans in cortisone-treated mice raised the burdens close to untreated controls. Results are shown from 5–13 mice per group; bars represent means ± SEM. *p<0.001.