|
From: ironjustice on 31 Jul 2008 10:42 Unexpected Link between Iron and Drug Resistance of Candida spp.: Iron Depletion Enhances Membrane Fluidity and Drug Diffusion, Leading to Drug-Susceptible Cells ANTIMICROBIAL AGENTS AND CHEMOTHERAPY, Nov. 2006, p. 35973606 Vol. 50, No. 11 Tulika Prasad,1 Aparna Chandra,2 Chinmay K. Mukhopadhyay,2* and Rajendra Prasad1* Membrane Biology Laboratory, School of Life Sciences,1 and Special Center for Molecular Medicine,2 Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110067, India Received 30 May 2006/Returned for modification 15 July 2006/Accepted 30 August 2006 In this study, we show that iron depletion in Candida albicans with bathophenanthrolene disulfonic acid andferrozine as chelators enhanced its sensitivity to several drugs, including the most common antifungal,fluconazole (FLC). Several other species of Candida also displayed increased sensitivity to FLC because of ironrestriction. Iron uptake mutations, namely, ftr1 and ftr2, as well as the copper transporter mutation ccc2,which affects high-affinity iron uptake in Candida, produced increased sensitivity to FLC compared to that ofthe wild type. The effect of iron depletion on drug sensitivity appeared to be independent of the efflux pumpproteins Cdr1p and Cdr2p. We found that iron deprivation led to lowering of membrane ergosterol by 15 to30%. Subsequently, fluorescence polarization measurements also revealed that iron-restricted Candida cellsdisplayed a 29 to 40% increase in membrane fluidity, resulting in enhanced passive diffusion of the drugs. Northern blot assays revealed that the ERG11 gene was considerably down regulated in iron-deprived cells,which might account for the lowered ergosterol content. Our results show a close relationship between cellular iron and drug susceptibilities of C. albicans. Considering that multidrug resistance is a manifestation of multifactorial phenomena, the influence of cellular iron on the drug susceptibilities of Candida suggests iron as yet another novel determinant of multidrug resistance. 0066-4804/06/$08.000 doi:10.1128/AAC.00653-06 Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved. Who loves ya. Tom Jesus Was A Vegetarian! http://tinyurl.com/2r2nkh Man Is A Herbivore! http://tinyurl.com/4rq595 DEAD PEOPLE WALKING http://tinyurl.com/zk9fk
|
Pages: 1 Prev: Fibromyalgia: B12 shots, vitamins, what else?...Colloidal Silver? Next: Born Gay |