Octyl gallate reduces ABC multidrug transporter CaCdr1p expression and leads to its mislocalisation in azole-resistant clinical isolates of Candida albicans

Objectives: Fungal pathogens pose a serious threat to public health. Widespread and prolonged use of antifungal drugs has led to the development of multidrug resistance in the human fungal pathogen Candida albicans. Among several mechanisms leading to drug resistance in C. albicans, overexpression of drug efflux transporters remains by far the leading cause of multidrug resistance, facilitated by overexpression of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) and major facilitator superfamily (MFS) transporters. Hence, targeting efflux pumps still represents a promising approach to combat multidrug resistance. In this study, the effect of octyl gallate (OG), a natural food additive, on drug efflux pump activity of C. albicans was analysed. Methods: Drug efflux pump activity was determined by rhodamine 6G (R6G) efflux and Nile red accumulation assay in a Candida drug resistance protein 1 (CaCdr1p)-overexpressing strain. Gene expression and protein expression and localisation were studied by RT-PCR, Western blot and confocal microscopy. Ergosterol content was measured by the alcoholic KOH method. Results: OG specifically inhibits the activity of CaCdr1p, belonging to the ABC superfamily. The underlying mechanism was confirmed as competitive mode of inhibition by OG as revealed by Lineweaver–Burk plot. Furthermore, OG leads to reduced expression of CDR1 and CaCdr1p and mislocalisation of CaCdr1p. Additionally, OG sensitises azole-susceptible and -resistant clinical matched-pair isolates Gu4 & Gu5 and leads to impeded R6G efflux and depleted ergosterol content. Conclusion: The ability of OG as a potent inhibitor of CaCdr1p that chemosensitises drug-resistant C. albicans warrants further studies to be exploited as an effective antifungal agent.

Abstract licence: CC BY-NC-ND

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