The Biotherapeutic Potential of a Novel Probiotic Isolated from a Sourdough Starter Against Vaginal Strains.

There is an increasing interest in yeasts isolated from natural sources to be used as probiotics. -based probiotics have been proposed as a valid alternative to the conventional drug therapy for the prevention and treatment of vulvovaginal candidiasis, also considering the resistance of some strains to many antifungals. Here, we isolated from an artisanal sourdough a new yeast strain which was identified as and assessed its probiotic and safety properties, which resulted in comparable properties to all those exhibited by the commercial probiotic . Then, we checked the antagonistic activity of the new isolate against some clinical fluconazole resistant strains, showing its ability to inhibit filamentation, biofilm formation, and the adhesion of to vaginal epithelial A-431 cells. Also, reduced the cell damage provoked by and the expression of and genes. On the whole, our results enlarge the spectrum of the beneficial properties of the food-grade yeast showing for the first time its biotherapeutic potential against .