Publikationsdatenbank

Drug susceptibility profiling of Prototheca species isolated from cases of human Protothecosis (2023)

Art

Zeitschriftenartikel / wissenschaftlicher Beitrag

Autoren

Proskurnicka, Angelika

Żupnik, Kinga

Bakuła, Zofia

Iskra, Mateusz

Rösler, Uwe (WE 10)

Jagielski, Tomasz

Quelle

Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy

Bandzählung: 67

Heftzählung: 4

Seiten: Artikel e0162722

ISSN: 1098-6596

Sprache

Englisch

Verweise

URL (Volltext): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36943065/

DOI: 10.1128/aac.01627-22

Pubmed: 36943065

Kontakt

Institut für Tier- und Umwelthygiene

Robert-von-Ostertag-Str. 7-13
14169 Berlin
+49 30 838 51845
tierhygiene@vetmed.fu-berlin.de

Abstract / Zusammenfassung

Prototheca are unicellular, achlorophyllous, yeast-like microalgae that occur in a wide range of natural habitats. At least five species have been implicated as the causative agents of opportunistic infections of men. Human protothecosis typically manifests as cutaneous, articular, or systemic disease. Treatment is largely empirical with poorly predictable and often unsuccessful outcomes. This is largely due to the frequently observed resistance of Prototheca species to conventional antimicrobial agents. This work is the first to perform drug susceptibility profiling exclusively on isolates from human cases of protothecosis. A total of 23 such isolates were tested against amphotericin B and 9 azoles, including efinaconazole and luliconazole, whose activities against Prototheca have never been studied before. Efinaconazole was the most active, with median minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum algicidal concentration (MAC) values of 0.031 mg/L and 0.063 mg/L, respectively. Fluconazole and luliconazole had the lowest activity, with median MIC and MAC values of 128 mg/L. To conclude, amphotericin B and most of the azoles showed in vitro activity, with an algicidal rather than algistatic effect, against Prototheca. Still, the activity of individual drugs differed significantly between the species and even between strains of the same species. These differences can be attributed to a species-specific potential for acquiring drug resistance, which, in turn, might be linked to the treatment history of the patient from whom the strain was recovered. The results of this study underscore the potential clinical utility of efinaconazole as a promising therapeutic agent for the treatment of human protothecosis.