AUTHOR=Chalin Arnaud , Arvor Antoine , Hervault Anne-Sophie , Plaisance Marc , Niol Léa , Simon Stéphanie , Volland Hervé 

TITLE=A lateral flow immunoassay for the rapid identification of Candida auris from isolates or directly from surveillance enrichment broths

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=15

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2024.1439273

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2024.1439273

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Introduction</title><p><italic>Candida auris</italic> is a recently discovered yeast with a multi-drug resistant profile associated with high mortality rates. The rapid identification of <italic>Candida auris</italic> in hospital settings is crucial to allow appropriate therapeutic and rapid implementation of infection management measures. The aim of this study was to develop a lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) for the rapid identification of <italic>Candida auris</italic>.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>Highly specific monoclonal antibodies were obtained by immunizing mice with membrane proteins from <italic>Candida auris</italic> which were then used to develop a LFIA whose performance was assessed by testing 12 strains of <italic>Candida auris</italic> and 37 strains of other Candida species. Isolates were grown on either Sabouraud dextrose, CHROMagar<sup>TM</sup> Candida Plus or HardyCHROM<sup>TM</sup><italic>Candida</italic> + <italic>auris</italic> agar plates. The strains were also cultured on salt sabouraud-dextrose with chloramphenicol or a commercially available Salt-Sabouraud Dulcitol Broth with chloramphenicol and gentamicin, and processed using a simple centrifugation protocol to recover a pellet. Finally, the colonies or yeast extract were transferred to the LFIA to determine the specificity and sensitivity of the assay.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>The LFIA reached 100% specificity and sensitivity from solid agar plates. For both enrichment broths, some Candida non-auris species were able to grow, but the LFIA remained 100% specific. The use of a dextrose-based sabouraud broth resulted in earlier identification with the LFIA, with most of the Candida auris strains detected at 24 h.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>The developed LFIA prototype represents a powerful tool to fight the emerging threat of Candida auris. Clinical validation represents the next step.</p></sec>