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Flow cytometry susceptibility testing for the antifungal caspofungin.

Mitchell M, Hudspeth M, Wright A

Microbiology Department, Community Medical Centers-Fresno, Fresno, CA 93701, USA. mmitchell@communitymedical.org

Rapid antifungal susceptibility testing for the antifungal agent caspofungin can be performed using flow cytometry (FC). An FC procedure using acridine orange provided minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) results within 7 to 9 h which were compared with results obtained using the NCCLS M27-A2 protocol. To evaluate the consistency of this method, susceptibility testing using caspofungin was performed using 73 isolates of eight different species of Candida from various clinical samples in Central California. Macrotiter or microdilution tests were performed according to the NCCLS M27-A2 protocol, and the MICs were compared to those provided by our flow cytometry method. All isolates tested had results within the sensitive interpretive category, and 90% of the results compared within 1 dilution, showing excellent agreement between the methods. The MIC at which 50% of the isolates tested were inhibited (MIC50) and the MIC90 of caspofungin for all eight Candida species were within 1 dilution. This flow cytometer 7-h protocol for testing the antifungal susceptibility of Candida species to caspofungin provided results equivalent to those obtained with the M27-A2 protocol.

Published 15 June 2005 in J Clin Microbiol, 43(6): 2586-9.
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