Sanguinetti Maurizio, Posteraro Brunella, Fiori Barbara, Ranno Stefania, Torelli Riccardo, Fadda Giovanni
Istituto di Microbiologia, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy.
Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2005 Feb;49(2):668-79. doi: 10.1128/AAC.49.2.668-679.2005.
The increasing use of azole antifungals for the treatment of mucosal and systemic Candida glabrata infections has resulted in the selection and/or emergence of resistant strains. The main mechanisms of azole resistance include alterations in the C. glabrata ERG11 gene (CgERG11), which encodes the azole target enzyme, and upregulation of the CgCDR1 and CgCDR2 genes, which encode efflux pumps. In the present study, we evaluated these molecular mechanisms in 29 unmatched clinical isolates of C. glabrata, of which 20 isolates were resistant and 9 were susceptible dose dependent (S-DD) to fluconazole. These isolates were recovered from separate patients during a 3-year hospital survey for antifungal resistance. Four of the 20 fluconazole-resistant isolates were analyzed together with matched susceptible isolates previously taken from the same patients. Twenty other azole-susceptible clinical C. glabrata isolates were included as controls. MIC data for all the fluconazole-resistant isolates revealed extensive cross-resistance to the other azoles tested, i.e., itraconazole, ketoconazole, and voriconazole. Quantitative real-time PCR analyses showed that CgCDR1 and CgCDR2, alone or in combination, were upregulated at high levels in all but two fluconazole-resistant isolates and, to a lesser extent, in the fluconazole-S-DD isolates. In addition, slight increases in the relative level of expression of CgSNQ2 (which encodes an ATP-binding cassette [ABC] transporter and which has not yet been shown to be associated with azole resistance) were seen in some of the 29 isolates studied. Interestingly, the two fluconazole-resistant isolates expressing normal levels of CgCDR1 and CgCDR2 exhibited increased levels of expression of CgSNQ2. Conversely, sequencing of CgERG11 and analysis of its expression showed no mutation or upregulation in any C. glabrata isolate, suggesting that CgERG11 is not involved in azole resistance. When the isolates were grown in the presence of fluconazole, the profiles of expression of all genes, including CgERG11, were not changed or were only minimally changed in the resistant isolates, whereas marked increases in the levels of gene expression, particularly for CgCDR1 and CgCDR2, were observed in either the fluconazole-susceptible or the fluconazole-S-DD isolates. Finally, known ABC transporter inhibitors, such as FK506, were able to reverse the azole resistance of all the isolates. Together, these results provide evidence that the upregulation of the CgCDR1-, CgCDR2-, and CgSNQ2-encoded efflux pumps might explain the azole resistance in our set of isolates.
越来越多地使用唑类抗真菌药物治疗黏膜和全身性光滑念珠菌感染已导致耐药菌株的选择和/或出现。唑类耐药的主要机制包括光滑念珠菌ERG11基因(CgERG11)发生改变,该基因编码唑类靶向酶,以及CgCDR1和CgCDR2基因上调,这两个基因编码外排泵。在本研究中,我们评估了29株未配对的光滑念珠菌临床分离株中的这些分子机制,其中20株分离株耐药,9株对氟康唑呈剂量依赖性敏感(S-DD)。这些分离株是在一项为期3年的医院抗真菌耐药性调查中从不同患者身上分离得到的。将20株氟康唑耐药分离株中的4株与之前从同一患者身上获取的配对敏感分离株一起进行分析。另外20株唑类敏感的光滑念珠菌临床分离株作为对照。所有氟康唑耐药分离株的MIC数据显示对其他测试的唑类药物,即伊曲康唑、酮康唑和伏立康唑存在广泛的交叉耐药。定量实时PCR分析表明,除两株氟康唑耐药分离株外,所有氟康唑耐药分离株中CgCDR1和CgCDR2单独或联合上调至高水平,在氟康唑S-DD分离株中上调程度较小。此外,在研究的29株分离株中的一些分离株中,CgSNQ2(编码一种ATP结合盒[ABC]转运蛋白,尚未证明与唑类耐药相关)的相对表达水平略有增加。有趣的是,两株CgCDR1和CgCDR2表达水平正常的氟康唑耐药分离株CgSNQ2表达水平升高。相反,CgERG11测序及其表达分析表明,任何光滑念珠菌分离株均未发生突变或上调现象,这表明CgERG11不参与唑类耐药。当分离株在氟康唑存在下生长时,包括CgERG11在内的所有基因的表达谱在耐药分离株中未发生变化或仅发生微小变化,而在氟康唑敏感或氟康唑S-DD分离株中观察到基因表达水平显著增加,尤其是CgCDR1和CgCDR2。最后,已知的ABC转运蛋白抑制剂,如FK506,能够逆转所有分离株的唑类耐药性。总之,这些结果提供了证据,表明CgCDR1、CgCDR2和CgSNQ2编码的外排泵上调可能解释了我们这组分离株中的唑类耐药性。