Quantitative analysis of the expression of fluconazole resistance genes in strains of Candida albicans isolated at admission of elderly people in an Intensive Care Unit of Manizales, Colombia

Introduction: Opportunistic infections associated with Candida albicans have had a great impact on public health due to the mortality they generate in certain population groups. Although there are available pharmacological treatments, the increasing resistance developed by the pathogen has become increasingly evident. For this reason, the determination of the mechanisms of resistance associated with the strains present in hospital areas is important since it would help to propose better treatment schemes. Objective: To analyze the expression of ERG11, CDR1 and MDR1 genes in strains of C. albicans isolated from elderly at admittance in the intensive care unit of Santa Sofia Hospital in the city of Manizales, Caldas, Colombia. Materials and methods: 29 samples (21 resistant-8 sensitives) were selected for the generation of two working groups; with and without exposure to fluconazole. The extracted RNA was quantified by real-time reverse transcriptase reaction (RTqPCR). Results: Significant differences were found in the expression of the MDR1 gene in the group of resistant C. albicans strains. Two of the resistant strains (104 and 622) exposed to the antifungal showed very high values in the expression of this gene. The expression of ERG11 and CDR1 was not significant among the groups studied. Conclusion: The increased of overexpression of the MDR1 gene indicates that this may be responsible for the resistance; however, some resistant strains do not overexpress any of the genes analyzed, which indicates that maybe other genes involved in the resistance presented by the strains studied.