saponins from mimusops laurifolia target some key virulence factors in candida albicans

Mimusops laurifolia (the tree of life, as it was known by the ancient egyptians) belongs to the mimusops genus, which has been used in folk medicine for a very long time. recently, it has been concluded that a crude extract containing the saponins from the leaves of m. laurifolia has promising antifungal activity against candida albicans. this fungus is a widely known opportunistic pathogen linked to systemic and chronic infections. as a result, the current study aims to investigate the  anti-virulence potential of these saponins extract against c. albicans at the molecular level in an attempt to better understand how these saponins might function as an antifungal agent against c. albicans. real-time pcr was used to quantify the relative gene expression levels of critical virulence factors in c. albicans cells treated with saponins versus untreated cells. the potential of these saponins as antifungal agents is likely to be attributed to their gene-regulatory activity, as the expression of some key genes in c. albicans (involved in invasion, survival, and adhesion, such as sap3, sap5, and als3) was strongly downregulated in saponin-exposed candida cells. generally, these data show that m. laurifolia-derived saponins may be efficient inhibitors and virulence modulators of c. albicans. thus, the current study broadens our knowledge about saponin’s potential antifungal properties. moreover, our discovery of a strong suppressor that acts specifically on virulence-related genes paves the way to develop an oriented class of antifungal drugs.