LAMP-Based Detection of Candida albicans: A Potential Tool for Candidemia Diagnosis.

Abstract

Candidemia is a life-threatening bloodstream infection, most commonly caused by Candida albicans (C. albicans), and remains a significant concern in immunocompromised patients. Rapid and accurate species-level detection is essential for effective clinical management. Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) is a robust nucleic acid amplification method that enables rapid pathogen detection under isothermal conditions. This study developed and evaluated an ITS2-targeted LAMP assay for the detection of C. albicans in human blood. Analytical sensitivity and specificity were assessed using tenfold serial dilutions of DNA from a standard C. albicans strain (1 ng-1 fg). Specificity was tested against six other fungal species commonly involved in bloodstream infections: C. tropicalis, C. krusei, C. neoformans, Fusarium spp., Aspergillus flavus, and A. niger. The assay detected C. albicans DNA at concentrations as low as 10 fg, surpassing conventional PCR, which detected down to 10 pg. No cross-reactivity was observed with non-albicans species tested. Performance in blood was evaluated using artificially spiked samples, in which the assay consistently detected C. albicans at 10¹ CFU/mL under controlled experimental conditions. These findings demonstrate that the ITS2-based LAMP assay provides a rapid and sensitive molecular approach for the detection of C. albicans under the experimental conditions evaluated and may have potential as a complementary tool for candidemia detection following further clinical validation.