title: Virulence Attributes and Antifungal Susceptibility Profile of Opportunistic Fungi Isolated from Ophthalmic Infections.
abstract: Investigations of both virulence factors and antifungal susceptibility profiles are crucial for understanding the pathogenesis and prognosis of ophthalmic mycoses. In this study, we investigated the in vitro antifungal susceptibility of amphotericin B (AMB), voriconazole (VRC), and natamycin (NAT) against a set of 50 fungal isolates obtained from patients with ocular mycoses using the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute broth microdilution method. In addition, putative virulence factor, such as secretory phospholipases and proteinases, and biofilm formation activity were analyzed. The geometric means (GMs) of the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of the antifungals across all isolates were the following (in increasing order): VRC (0.70 μg/mL), AMB (0.81 μg/mL), and NAT (1.05 μg/mL). The highest activity against 14 Aspergillus strains was exhibited by VRC (GM MIC: 0.10 μg/mL), followed by AMB and NAT (GM MICs: 0.21 and 0.27 μg/mL), respectively. However, for 12 Fusarium spp., the GM MIC of VRC (2.66) was higher than those of NAT and AMB (GM MICs 1.3 and 0.8 μg/mL, respectively). Proteinase and phospholipase activity were observed in 30 % and 42 % of the isolates, respectively, whereas only 8 % of the isolates were able to produce biofilms. Phospholipase activity was observed in all Fusarium isolates, but not in any of the Aspergillus isolates. In contrast, biofilm-forming capability was detected in 25 % of the Fusarium isolates, but none of the Aspergillus isolates. The differences in the MICs of AMB, VRC, and NAT, biofilm-forming ability and proteinase and phospholipase activities among the isolates were not significant (p > 0.05). Overall, our study suggests no significant correlation between the antifungal susceptibility profiles and virulence attributes of ocular fungal isolates.
authors.affiliation: Division of Mycology, Department of Microbiology, Cerrahpaşa Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University, 34098, Istanbul, Turkey. hafize.sav@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Hafize
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sav
authors.affiliation: Division of Ophthalmology, Medicosocial Health Center, University of Çukurova, Adana, Turkey.
authors.forename: Havva Gül
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Ozdemir
authors.affiliation: Division of Mycology, Department of Microbiology, Cerrahpaşa Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University, 34098, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Rabiye
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Altınbas
authors.affiliation: Division of Mycology, Department of Microbiology, Cerrahpaşa Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University, 34098, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Nuri
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kiraz
authors.affiliation: Division of Mycology, Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Çukurova, Adana, Turkey.
authors.forename: Macit
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ilkit
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.|Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboud UMC, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.|Invasive Fungi Research Center, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.|Laboratory of Clinical Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institute of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Seyedmojtaba
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Seyedmousavi
mesh_terms: D000666:Amphotericin B / Q000494:pharmacology; D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D018441:Biofilms / Q000254:growth & development; D025141:Drug Resistance, Fungal; D005128:Eye Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D005658:Fungi / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D009181:Mycoses / Q000382:microbiology*; D010866:Natamycin / Q000494:pharmacology; D009894:Opportunistic Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases / Q000032:analysis; D010740:Phospholipases / Q000032:analysis; D014774:Virulence; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000032:analysis*; D065819:Voriconazole / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D000935:Antifungal Agents; D037521:Virulence Factors; D000666:Amphotericin B; D010866:Natamycin; D010740:Phospholipases; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases; D065819:Voriconazole
keywords: Antifungal susceptibility testing; Ocular fungal isolates; Virulence factors