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 pharmacological treatments are available, the resistance developed by the pathogen has become increasingly evident. For this reason, determining the mechanisms of resistance associated with the strains found in different hospital areas is important since it would help improving treatment plans.

Objective:

To analyze the expression of ERG11, CDR1, and MDR1 genes in strains of C. albicans isolated from elderly patients at admittance in the intensive care unit of Hospital Santa Sofía in Manizales, Colombia.

Materials and methods:

A total of 29 samples (21 resistant and 8 sensitive) were selected and distributed in two working groups: with and without exposure to fluconazole. The extracted RNA was quantified by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR).

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 62-2) 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 overexpression of the MDR1 gene indicates that it may be responsible for the resistance. However, some resistant strains did not overexpress any of the genes analyzed, which indicates that there may be other genes involved in the resistance of the strains under study.

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