The Impact of Candida albicans on Group B Streptococcus Adhesion and Invasion of Intestinal Epithelial Cells

7/10/2023

Alexia Pearah

About the researcher

We developed a mouse model of GBS and C. albicans co-colonization and noted that the presence of C. albicans is associated with greater GBS burden in the neonatal intestinal tract. We sought to determine the mechanism(s) responsible for this increase in burden using invitro co-culture and co-infection of human intestinal epithelial cell lines. Our findings demonstrate that the presence of C. albicans is associated with upregulation of genes important for GBS colonization, adhesion and translocation in the intestinal epithelium.

Group B Strep International

7/10/2023 10:05:01 pm

We are grateful to you for your research to better understand group B strep! Thank you for sharing these highlights!

Alexia Pearah

7/11/2023 07:35:26 am

It is my pleasure! I am honored to be a part of this.

Alexia Pearah

7/11/2023 07:34:21 am

Welcome and thank you for watching my presentation! Leave a comment to ask me any questions you may have and I will answer in a timely manner.

Jessica Pettit

7/11/2023 10:27:41 am

Coming from a GBS Mama, thank you and your team so very much for all the efforts and research in this disease. I am so grateful for all of you!

Alexia Pearah

7/11/2023 10:59:03 am

Thank you Jessica for your support! You are such a strong GBS Mama.

Marti Perhach

7/11/2023 04:22:57 pm

When you talk about colonization and translocation, are you referring to translocation within the intestinal tract or would this potentially apply other areas of the body such as milk ducts?

Alexia Pearah

7/12/2023 08:11:16 am

Great question! So I am referring to GBS colonization and translocation in the intestinal tract to the bloodstream which is what the gene Lmb (Laminin-binding protein) is significant for. This could also apply to colonization and translocation to other areas of the body.
What is super interesting is that GBS can normally go through the cell membrane and infiltrate the cell which affects the cell's permeability (the ability for GBS or other substances to cross the cell membrane). Normally, the ducts in the breast are permeable, however, when a mother is lactating, the ducts' epithelial cells become impermeable meaning that other substances cannot cross the cell membrane.

Marti Perhach

7/12/2023 08:38:18 am

Thanks! That is super interesting about the milk duct cells becoming impermeable. Do you know what mechanism makes them become impermeable that maybe that could be applied somehow to fetal membranes to help prevent GBS causing babies to be stillborn?

Alexia Pearah

7/12/2023 10:18:06 am

The mechanism responsible for causing impermeability is changes in what are called tight and adheren junctions due to hormonal changes. It could be an option to explore using this mechanism as a potential treatment to the fetal membrane as a preventative. I have not seen anything on this yet but a good idea!

James Davis

7/11/2023 07:39:33 pm

Great presentation!!! Question: did your gene expression protocols have the same controls for pH in both murine an CaCO2 models? There is research that may indicate an increase in GBS gene expression at certain pH levels.

Alexia Pearah

7/12/2023 09:34:19 am

Thank you!!! And thank you for your question! No I did not have controls for pH but since, as you said, GBS gene expression is sensitive to changes in pH, that is an area I am curious to look into.

Ashley Hernandez

7/11/2023 10:01:05 pm

As a GBS stillbirth mother, thank you for your dedication to this vital research that is sure to save the lives of many babies. I look forward to seeing more of your research's conclusions as time goes on. I will follow along.

Alexia Pearah

7/12/2023 09:35:34 am

Thank you for your support Ashley! I am sorry for your loss. One of the living reasons we do what we do.

Leigh-Anne Worthington

7/12/2023 02:41:56 pm

What a great presentation, very informative! What influenced you to investigate the impact of specifically Candida albicans on GBS?

Alexia Pearah

7/13/2023 07:08:16 am

Thank you Leigh-Anne! We wanted to explore other organisms' affect on GBS since we know that GBS isn't the only organism in the gut and there are cases where GBS presents worse than other cases so this may be due to the other organisms in the gut. There are many to choose from but after sifting through other research papers already published, we saw that other labs had proven a significant increase in GBS burden when Candida albicans is present but only in the bladder and vaginal epithelium of adults. This has not been explored in the neonatal gut yet so we sought to explore this. Thank you for your question!

Rico Carter

7/12/2023 02:58:10 pm

Very informative and interesting presentation. This work is extremely important. I can not wait to see the experimentation with the fetal Enteroid model.

Alexia Pearah

7/13/2023 07:08:57 am

Thank you Rico! We are super excited to explore with this model as well!

Facebook post question from Nadine B.

7/13/2023 08:50:26 pm

Is C. albicans also responsible for diaper rash in young babies?

Alexia Pearah

7/14/2023 03:38:59 pm

Hi Nadine, thank you for your question! Yes, Candida albicans is one of the most common causes of diaper rashes of infants. It occurs when there is not a balance of yeast and the healthy bacteria in the infants body. Candida loves moisture so changing diapers frequently help prevent a diaper rash due to Candida.

Comments are closed.

The Impact of Candida albicans on Group B Streptococcus Adhesion and Invasion of Intestinal Epithelial Cells

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The Impact of Candida albicans on Group B Streptococcus Adhesion and Invasion of Intestinal Epithelial Cells

Join the Campaign against GBS Disease in babies!

​CONNECT TO GBSI

CONNECT TO GBSI