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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, July 2008, p. 2468-2472, Vol. 52, No. 7
0066-4804/08/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/AAC.00156-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Epidemiological Cutoffs and Cross-Resistance to Azole Drugs in Aspergillus fumigatus
,
Juan Luis Rodriguez-Tudela,*
Laura Alcazar-Fuoli,
Emilia Mellado,
Ana Alastruey-Izquierdo,
Araceli Monzon, and
Manuel Cuenca-Estrella
Servicio de Micologia, Centro Nacional de Microbiologia, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Majadahonda, Spain
Received 4 February 2008/
Returned for modification 22 March 2008/
Accepted 7 May 2008
Antifungal susceptibility testing of molds has been standardized in Europe and in the United States. Aspergillus fumigatus strains with resistance to azole drugs have recently been detected and the underlying molecular mechanisms of resistance characterized. Three hundred and ninety-three isolates, including 32 itraconazole-resistant strains, were used to define wild-type populations, epidemiological cutoffs, and cross-resistance between azole drugs. The epidemiological cutoff for itraconazole, voriconazole, and ravuconazole for the wild-type populations of A. fumigatus was
1 mg/liter. For posaconazole, the epidemiological cutoff was
0.25 mg/liter. Up till now, isolates susceptible to itraconazole have not yet displayed resistance to other azole drugs. Cross-resistance between azole drugs depends on specific mutations in cyp51A. Thus, a substitution of glycine in position 54 of Cyp51A confers cross-resistance between itraconazole and posaconazole. A substitution of methionine at position 220 or a duplication in tandem of a 34-bp fragment in the cyp51A promoter combined with a substitution of leucine at position 98 for histidine confers cross-resistance to all azole drugs tested. The results obtained in this study will help to develop clinical breakpoints for azole drugs and A. fumigatus.
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Servicio de Micologia, Centro Nacional de Microbiologia, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ctra Majadahonda Pozuelo km 2, 28220 Majadahonda, Spain. Phone: 34 91 822 3919. E-mail:
jlrtudela{at}isciii.es
Published ahead of print on 12 May 2008.
Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://aac.asm.org/.
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, July 2008, p. 2468-2472, Vol. 52, No. 7
0066-4804/08/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/AAC.00156-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
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