ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Pharmacology of Infectious Diseases
Antifungal and anti-virulence activities of cinnamon, thyme, and clove essential oils against Candida species
Provisionally accepted
Toni Gabaldón1*
Islam Ahaik2
Juan Carlos Nunez-Rodríguez2
Sònia Abelló-Cros3
Oscar Yanes3Samira Bouhdid4- 1Bioinformatics and Genomics, Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Barcelona, Spain
- 2Institut de Recerca Biomedica, Barcelona, Spain
- 3Universitat Rovira i Virgili Publicacions URV, Tarragona, Spain
- 4Universite Abdelmalek Essaadi, Tetouan, Morocco
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Candida species are major opportunistic pathogens, with Candida albicans being the most frequent cause of candidiasis. However, increasing rates of non-albicans infections and antifungal resistance bring an urgent need for new therapeutics. Essential oils (EOs) have gained attention due to their potential to inhibit fungal growth and virulence. Here, we determined the chemical composition and antifungal activity of cinnamon, thyme, and clove EOs against eighteen Candida strains from nine species, including multidrug-resistant isolates. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry identified cinnamaldehyde, thymol and eugenol as the dominant components of cinnamon, thyme and clove EOs, respectively, each exceeding 70% in relative abundance. All three EOs displayed antifungal activity, with cinnamon and thyme being the most potent. Both oils showed increased activity against multidrug-resistant strains of Candida parapsilosis and 1 Nakaseomyces glabratus compared with their susceptible parentals, suggesting they may target resistance trade-offs. Interestingly, all five clades of Candidozyma auris displayed low MICs for cinnamon EO (0.002-0.008% v/v), indicating high susceptibility. We additionally assessed effects on key virulent traits for the two most active EOs. Cinnamon EO reduced germ tube formation in C. albicans from 97% to 12% at MIC/2, while thyme EO completely inhibited germ tube formation and induced pseudohyphae. Protease production was totally suppressed in C. auris clades II and III at MIC/2 thyme EO. These results highlight the strong dual activity of EOs, supporting further exploration of their potential as complementary therapeutic options against Candida infections.
Keywords: antifungal resistance, Candida, essential oils, Non-albicans Candida, Virulence Factors
Received: 28 Nov 2025; Accepted: 10 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Gabaldón, Ahaik, Nunez-Rodríguez, Abelló-Cros, Yanes and Bouhdid. 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: Toni Gabaldón
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