Authors
Laure S van Hofwegen, Muhammad Hassnain, Payal P S Balraadjsing, Karin van Dijk, Ferry Hagen, Sedat Nizamoglu, Sebastian A J Zaat
Published in
Journal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland). Volume 12. Issue 3. Mar 17, 2026. Epub Mar 17, 2026.
Abstract
Candidozyma auris is an emerging opportunistic fungal pathogen that can cause serious catheter-related blood stream infections associated with high morbidity and mortality. The traditional antifungal treatment with polyenes, azoles or echinocandins is becoming less effective due to both intrinsic and developed resistance, complicating treatment. This study demonstrates the potent fungicidal activity of carboxyl-functionalized graphene quantum dots (cGQDs) against a panel of C. auris strains, spanning clades I to V, and a Candida albicans reference strain. Photoactivation of cGQDs in suspension with 435 nm blue light killed 99.9% of the fungi within 30 min even though the majority of test strains were resistant to at least one conventional antifungal. Moreover, cGQDs coated on flexible polydimethylsiloxane surfaces and commercial catheters via electrostatic layer-by-layer deposition with alternating positively charged polydiallyldimethylammonium polymer showed strong fungicidal activity against C. auris and C. albicans. These findings show that the cGQDs, both in suspension and in a thin film coating, have potential for future clinical development. In particular, their application to catheters may help prevent Candidozyma and Candida catheter-related infections.
PMID:
41893148
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 13 Sep 2026.
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