Genotype distribution of Candida albicans strains associated with different conditions of vulvovaginal candidiasis, as revealed by microsatellite typing

Abstract

<h3>Objective:</h3> To compare genotypes of <i>Candida albicans</i> strains causing different conditions of vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) in Chinese women. <h3>Methods:</h3> <i>C albicans</i> strains were isolated from the vaginas of patients with different conditions of VVC. The genotypes of the strains were investigated based on single-strand conformation polymorphisms (SSCP) of the PCR amplified microsatellite locus CAI. <h3>Results:</h3> A total of 93 independent <i>C albicans</i> strains was isolated from patients with mild-to-moderate (n = 37) or severe (n = 56) VVC. Thirty of the patients enrolled suffered recurrent VVC. Twenty-six distinct genotypes tentatively designated as A to Z were identified from the 93 <i>C albicans</i> strains compared on the basis of their CAI SSCP patterns. The majority (72.0%) of the strains possessed genotypes A to D, which were similar in the CAI SSCP profiles and were designated as the dominant genotypes. The overall frequencies of the four dominant genotypes were 87.5% (49/56) and 48.6% (18/37; p&lt;0.001) in the <i>C albicans</i> strains from patients with severe and mild-to-moderate VVC, respectively. The strains with the dominant genotypes occupied 83.3% (25/30) and 66.7% (42/63; p = 0.094) in the <i>C albicans</i> strains from patients with recurrent VVC and sporadic VVC, respectively. <h3>Conclusion:</h3> The frequency of <i>C albicans</i> strains with the dominant genotypes (A to D) from patients with severe VVC was significantly higher than that from patients with mild-to-moderate VVC, implying that the CAI genotype distribution of <i>C albicans</i> strains correlates with the severity of VVC.