This study evaluates the effects of cytokines, used singly and in combination, on the microbicidal activity of human monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM) against intracellular Candida albicans in the presence and absence of fluconazole. In the absence of fluconazole, the addition of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), gamma interferon (IFN-gamma), or IL-4 had no...

AIM To determine and compare antifungal activity of two tissue conditioners combined with nystatin, miconazole and fluconazole against Candida albicans. MATERIALS AND METHODS Two tissue conditioners Viscogel and GC Soft combined with nystatin, miconazole and fluconazole were tested against Candida albicans using agar core inhibition diameter assay. One-way analysis of variance followed by Tuk...

Background and Purpose: Candida albicans (C. albicans) is an opportunistic fungus that can colonize women’s mucosal epithelial cell surfaces, causing vulvovaginitis in specific circumstances. The major genes contributing to drug resistance in C. albicans are the candida drug resistance (CDR) and multi drug resistance (MDR) genes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the CDR-2 and MDR...

Candida albicans is a commensal organism, commonly inhabiting mucosal surfaces of healthy individuals, as a part of the resident microbiota. However, in susceptible hosts, especially hospitalized and/or immunocompromised patients, it may cause a wide range of infections. The presence of abiotic substrates, such as central venous or urinary catheters, provides an additional niche for Candida att...

Candiduria is a common finding in hospitalized patients, Non-albicans Candida species (NAC) have emerged as a pathogenic fungus group, where speciation is important, due to intrinsic resistance to commonly used azoles. In this study, 5180 urine samples were processed to determine prevalence of candiduria, to characterize and determine their antifungal susceptibility pattern by disk diffusion an...

The activities of R-135853, a novel sordarin derivative that possesses a 1,4-oxazepane ring moiety, were evaluated in vitro and in vivo. R-135853 exhibited potent in vitro activities against Candida albicans (fluconazole-susceptible strains), Candida glabrata, Candida tropicalis, and Cryptococcus neoformans, with MICs at which 90% of isolates were inhibited of 0.03, 1, 0.5, and 0.5 microg/ml, r...

Three structurally related oxathiolone fused chalcone derivatives appeared effective chemosensitizers, able to restore in part sensitivity to fluconazole of multidrug-resistant C. albicans strains. Compound 21 effectively chemosensitized cells resistant due to the overexpression of the MDR1 gene, compound 6 reduced resistance of cells overexpressing the ABC-type drug transporters CDR1/CDR2 and ...

OBJECTIVES Information on the function of Candida albicans ATP-binding cassette (ABC) membrane transporter Cdr1p has come from studying the effect of gene inactivation in C. albicans and from heterologous Cdr1p expression in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. These approaches, however, give only an indirect indication of Cdr1p function in C. albicans itself. The objective of this study was to ...

Susceptibilities to amphotericin B and fluconazole of 628 clinical yeast strains collected from 22 hospitals in Taiwan were determined. A total of 53 isolates (8.4%) were resistant to fluconazole. Each hospital had different resistance rate to fluconazole ranging from 0% to 24%. None of the 186 isolates from eight of the 22 hospitals was resistant to fluconazole. In contrast, isolates from nine...