quantification of cdr1 gene expression in fluconazole resistant candida glabrata strains using real-time pcr

Background: the opportunistic fungi, particularly candida glabrata has been known as main etiologic agents of life-threating infections in some patients. although fluconazole is the most effective antifungal agent against candidiasis, c. glabrata, fluconazole-resistant strains have been increased recently overexpression or mutations of atp-binding cassette (abc) transporter family membrane proteins such as; cg cdr1, cg cdr2 are responsible for fluconazole resistance in a large proportion of candidiasis cases. the aim of this study was to evaluate cdr1 gene expression level as one of main mechanism involved in this resistance using. methods: candida glabrata strains were collected from various clinical samples in hospitals of tehran in 2015 . after validation of all isolates by conventional and molecular methods, the susceptibility analysis to fluconazole of all isolates was performed using clsi broth microdilution m27-a3 and m27-s4 protocols. two isolates have been selected based on difference in susceptibility and cdr1-mrna expression level of isolates was measured by real-time pcr method. results: susceptibility results revealed that 32%, 64% and 4% of strains were susceptible, dose-dependent (dd) and resistant to fluconazole respectively. furthermore, resistance strain of c. glabrata (mic≥64 μg/ml) showed overexpression of cdr1 compared with sensitive strain in real-time pcr analysis. conclusion: thus, it is necessary to investigate the functions of cgcdr1 genes as a transporter-related gene.