MINI REVIEW article
Front. Fungal Biol.
Sec. Medical Mycology
This article is part of the Research TopicImmunology of Human Fungal Pathogens: Host-Pathogen Interactions, Immune Evasion, and Therapeutic StrategiesView all 5 articles
Mucosal immune response modulated by secreted and membrane-bound hydrolases of Candida albicans in vulvovaginal candidiasis
Provisionally accepted
- Jingjiang People’s Hospital, Taizhou, China
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Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) affects the physical and mental health of millions of women worldwide. The leading cause of VVC, C. albicans, can induce a strong mucosal inflammatory reaction during the VVC infection, where secreted and membrane-bound adhesion and hydrolases seem to be the key virulent factors to promote the mucosal antifungal immunity and immunopathology. Several hydrolases such as Sap, Als, candidalysin, lipase and phospholipase have been identified in vaginal secretions isolated from VVC patients, however, the immune impacts of some hydrolases have not been well documented. In this review, we focus on the literature which address the immunopathogenic roles of Als adhesin family or proteinase such as Sap and candidalysin in VVC. Our goal is to expand our knowledge on VVC pathogenesis in order to provide new strategies for VVC treatment.
Keywords: Candida albicans, mucosal immunity, VVC, Hydrolases, therapy
Received: 10 Sep 2025; Accepted: 17 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Guocheng, Li, Wang, Chao and Cong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Long Cong, long79919@sina.com
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