A Modern Approach To Traditional Medicine: Screening, Biofilms, And Mechanism Of Action In Candida Albicans

The Chinese, along with other cultures, have been using plants medicinally to treat infections, inflammation, and cancer for thousands of years. Until recently, modern approaches have not been used to understand the effectiveness of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Along with TCM, aurones are naturally occurring heterocyclic compounds in plants such as snapdragons that lend the flowers a yellow pigment. Due to the antifungal activities of flavonoids, it is reasonable to believe that aurones may also possess antifungal activity. Candida albicans is a polyphenic fungus that is known to cause opportunistic infections of the oral cavity and genitalia in humans in a variety of diseases under the collective term candidiasis, where this particular species is the most prevalent cause. We use standardized screening methods to test extracts and aurones against various infectious organism. The focus of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of these TCM extracts and aurones on C. albicans. Of 156 TCM extracts and 26 aurone compounds, 19 exhibited greater than 80% inhibition of C. albicans growth. IC50 doses fall below common antifungal treatment concentrations. Preliminary results from treatment with aurones also suggest biofilm degradation and prevention. It is imperative to discover and develop new treatments for fungal infections due to the deleterious effects that current treatments such as amphotericin B have on the body and growing resistance to antifungals. We have already identified several compounds that can be used as alternative treatments and are currently working to understand their mechanisms of action against C. albicans.