Roles of Streptococcus mutans- Candida albicans interaction in early childhood caries: a literature review

Yifei Lu; Yifan Lin; Mingyun Li; Jinzhi He

doi:10.3389/fcimb.2023.1151532

Roles of Streptococcus mutans- Candida albicans interaction in early childhood caries: a literature review

Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2023 May 16:13:1151532. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2023.1151532. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yifei Lu¹, Yifan Lin¹, Mingyun Li¹, Jinzhi He²

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases and National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
² Department of Cariology and Endodontics, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.

Abstract

As one of the most common oral diseases in kids, early childhood caries affects the health of children throughout the world. Clinical investigations show the copresence of Candida albicans and Streptococcus mutans in ECC lesions, and mechanistic studies reveal co-existence of C. albicans and S. mutans affects both of their cariogenicity. Clearly a comprehensive understanding of the interkingdom interaction between these two microorganisms has important implications for ECC treatment and prevention. To this end, this review summarizes advances in our understanding of the virulence of both C. albicans and S. mutans. More importantly, the synergistic and antagonistic interactions between these two microbes are discussed.

Keywords: Candida albicans; Streptococcus mutans; antagonism; early-childhood caries; interkingdom interaction; symbiosis.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Biofilms
Candida albicans*
Child
Child, Preschool
Dental Caries Susceptibility
Dental Caries*
Humans
Streptococcus mutans

Grants and funding

This study was funded by the Sichuan Science and Technology Program 2021YFH0188 (ML), the Science and Technology Department of Sichuan Province under Grant 2020YJ0240 (JH), the National Natural Science Foundation of China grant 81400501 (ML).