AAC
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by van Duin, D.
Right arrow Articles by Nosanchuk, J. D.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by van Duin, D.
Right arrow Articles by Nosanchuk, J. D.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, June 2004, p. 2014-2020, Vol. 48, No. 6
0066-4804/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AAC.48.6.2014-2020.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Effects of Voriconazole on Cryptococcus neoformans

David van Duin,1,{dagger} Wendy Cleare,1 Oscar Zaragoza,2 Arturo Casadevall,1,2 and Joshua D. Nosanchuk1*

Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine,1 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 104612

Received 22 December 2003/ Returned for modification 12 February 2004/ Accepted 21 February 2004

Voriconazole is a broad-spectrum triazole that offers extended activity against molds and yeasts that are not susceptible to earlier azole-type drugs. Recent studies indicate that melanization can severely reduce the susceptibility of certain antifungal drugs, but there is no information as to whether voriconazole is vulnerable to this effect. The activity of voriconazole on C. neoformans was assessed by MIC analysis and time-kill assays for melanized and nonmelanized cells. Cell morphology, capsule release, and phagocytosis of C. neoformans were studied in the presence or absence of subinhibitory concentrations of voriconazole. Voriconazole was fungicidal at concentrations of >=8 µg/ml in vitro against the strains of C. neoformans examined, and its efficacy was not diminished by melanization. Cells grown in subinhibitory concentrations of voriconazole had smaller cellular and capsular volumes than cells grown in the absence of drug. The induction of the capsule by serum was not affected by voriconazole. Cells grown in subinhibitory concentrations of voriconazole released their capsule and were phagocytosed at rates comparable with yeast grown without the antifungal. The high activity of voriconazole against both melanized and nonmelanized cells results suggest that voriconazole may be a particularly valuable drug for cryptococcosis.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1300 Morris Park Ave., Bronx, NY 10461. Phone: (718) 430-3766. Fax: (718) 430-8701. E-mail: nosanchu{at}aecom.yu.edu.

{dagger} Present address: Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, June 2004, p. 2014-2020, Vol. 48, No. 6
0066-4804/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AAC.48.6.2014-2020.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:



Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
Clin. Vaccine Immunol. Clin. Microbiol. Rev.
J. Clin. Microbiol. ALL ASM JOURNALS

Copyright © 2004 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.