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Abstract
Oropharyngeal candidiasis is a common disease among cancer patients receiving chemo or radiotherapy which precedes systemic candidemia, a life threatening infection. This study investigated the diversity and prevalence of different Candida species among Egyptian cancer patients and evaluated the sensitivity of Candida albicans to the frequently administered antifungal therapies and the effect of different radio and chemotherapeutic agents on its virulence. A total of 119 Candida spp. isolates were identified out of 399 clinical samples, of which; 72 isolates were C. albicans, 15 were C. tropicalis, 22 were C. krusei, and 10 were C. glabrata. A percentage of 98.6% of the C. albicans isolates were sensitive to fluconazole. On the other hand, only 8.3% out of the tested isolates were sensitive to amphotericin B. No significant differences were observed in the ability of biofilm formation among C. albicans isolates exposed to chemo, radio or both therapies when compared to standard C. albicans ATCC 60193. Surprisingly, the protease activities in isolates obtained from cancer patients were significantly lower than that of reference strain after exposure to chemo, radio or both therapies. Thus, it is concluded that radio and chemotherapies may not be -in some cases- a predisposing factor for the virulence of C. albicans strains