RESUMO
The checkerboard broth microdilution assay (BMD) is the most frequently used method for the in vitro evaluation of drug combinations. However, its use to evaluate the effect of antifungal drugs on filamentous fungi is sometimes associated with endpoint-reading difficulties, and different degrees of interaction are assigned to the same drug combination. We evaluated combinations of the azoles, itraconazole, posaconazole, and voriconazole, with the echinocandins, anidulafungin, caspofungin, and micafungin, against 15 itraconazole-resistant Aspergillus fumigatus clinical strains via the checkerboard BMD and Etest assay. Readings after 24 and 48 h, considering the two reading endpoints, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum effective concentration (MEC), were performed for both methods. Our results showed that the correlation coefficients between the BMD and Etest methods were quite diverse to the drug combinations tested. The highest correlation coefficients of the Etest with the BMD assays (MEC and MIC reading) were the Etest-MIC reading at 24 h and the Etest-MEC reading at 48 h. Improvements in experimental conditions may increase the correlation between the two methods and ensure that Etest assay can be safely used in the evaluation of antifungal combinations against Aspergillus species.
Assuntos
Antifúngicos/farmacologia , Aspergillus fumigatus/efeitos dos fármacos , Farmacorresistência Fúngica , Itraconazol/farmacologia , Testes de Sensibilidade Microbiana/métodos , Aspergilose/microbiologia , Aspergillus fumigatus/isolamento & purificação , Interações Medicamentosas , Equinocandinas/farmacologia , HumanosRESUMO
The naturally high minimum inhibitory concentration exhibited by echinocandins against Candida parapsilosis has been known since the first introduction of these antifungal agents. Despite this awareness, clinical failures have not been reported; consequently, the resistance of C. parapsilosis to echinocandins remains unexplored. We exposed 30 isolates of C. parapsilosis to echinocandins (caspofungin, micafungin, and anidulafungin) in vitro and studied the effects of this exposure. After 60 exposures, 80, 67, and 60 % of the isolates changed from susceptible to non-susceptible to caspofungin, micafungin, and anidulafungin, respectively. In addition, four strains exhibited cross-resistance to all three echinocandins. Based on the M27-A3 (CLSI, 2008) and M27-S4 (CLSI, 2012) techniques, the susceptibility of the resistant strains to other antifungal agents was assayed. All of the tested echinocandin-resistant strains were susceptible to amphotericin B, and the resistance rate to fluconazole, voriconazole, and flucytosine was 73.3, 43.3, and 20 %, respectively. The exposure of C. parapsilosis to the three echinocandins generated cross-resistant strains and an unexpected in vitro resistance to azoles and flucytosine.