Effect of Estrogen on Candida albicans filament growth in the presence and absence of an epithelial layer

Level of Education of Students Involved

Undergraduate

Faculty Sponsor

Patrice Bouyer

College

College of Arts & Sciences (CAS)

Discipline(s)

Biology

Presentation Type

Poster Presentation

Symposium Date

Spring 4-30-2026

Abstract

Candida albicans is a commensal fungus with opportunistic pathogenic potential and is a natural component of the human microbiome. In its filamentous form, it can invade the host, causing tissue damage, systemic infections such as candidiasis, and inflammation that may progress to organ failure. This observation points to increased estrogen (E2) levels as filament-inducing. We aim to provide an explanation for the effect of estrogen on C. albicans filamentation by studying their growth in different liquid media exposed to estrogen through different time courses (starting at 45 minutes, then 1 hour, 1 hour 30 minutes, and 1 hour 45 minutes). We expose the cells to 3 different conditions: control (using HPBSS), DMSO (dissolvant for E2), and a 1 nM E2 group, and measure the filament lengths at the different time courses. We fix the cells with paraformaldehyde at the end of the time course, and we used image capture by cellsense to measure the lengths of the filaments. Statistical analysis was performed to compare the groups using a students t- test. Within the HPBSS groups, we see that as time goes on, the length of the filaments statistically increases between the 45-60, 75-90, and 90-105 minute groups, with p-values agreeing with E2 being an inducer of filaments. We also noticed that T84 cells have an inducing effect on the lengths of the filaments compared to a control group with HPBSS alone and with Caco2 cells. We note that the filaments between the Caco2 and control cell groups are not statistically significant. Acute exposures to estrogen do not seem to have a significant effect on the filamentation lengths, but we notice that cell lines do have a profound effect.

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