Mecanismos de resistencia a azoles en especies de candida no-albicans

Identifier:  TDX:2945

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX2945

Authors:  Navarro Rodríguez, Patricia

Abstract:
Invasive candidiasis is a fungal infection with high clinical importance that can be caused by several species of Candida. Although the most common species is Candida albicans, in recent years infections caused by other species such as Candida glabrata, Candida parapsilosis, Candida tropicalis and Candida krusei have been increased. All of them are responsible for 90% of the invasive mycosis worldwide. The spectrum of candidiasis ranges from minimally symptomatic candidemia to fulminant sepsis with high mortality associated. The early diagnosis of this disease is a key to choice an appropriate antifungal treatment; the first-line drugs used are the echinocandins and azoles. However, one of the main problems of these infections is the recent increase of resistant isolates to antifungal for clinical use. At present, azoles are the most frequently used for candidiasis treatmen, due to its low toxicity and the possibility of being administered orally. There is extensive recent documentation on the resistance that many isolates of different species of Candida have against azoles. The main objective of this doctoral thesis was to evaluate the mechanisms of resistance to voriconazole in three species of Candida: C. glabrata, C. parapsilosis and C. tropicalis to try to throw light on this issue and improve the therapeutic treatment of these fungal infections. To this end, molecular studies of the mainly described mechanisms of resistance have been carried out, evaluating the relation of the candidate genes ERG11, CDR1, CDR2 and SNQ2 with the decrease in the voriconazole susceptibiliy of these species.