Here, we show that, during the first steps of the infection process, C. albicans releases a peptide from the Repressed by Tup1 protein 1 (Rbt1), which disorganizes the cell‒cell adhesion junctions in Caco-2 intestinal epithelial cells by notably downregulating constitutive proteins of the tight junction complex (i.e. ZO-1). This evidence concerns the gene TJP1 and infection.