O'Keeffe, Joseph and Doyle, Sean and Kavanagh, Kevin (2003) Exposure of the yeast Candida albicans to the anti-neoplastic agent adriamycin increases the tolerance to amphotericin B. Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, 55 (12). pp. 1629-1633.

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Abstract

Cancer patients experience a high incidence of fungal infections due to their immuno-suppressed condition. This work has investigated the interaction of an anti-neoplastic agent, adriamycin (doxorubicin), with the yeast Candida albicans and examined whether this drug altered the susceptibility of the yeast to amphotericin B - an anti- fungal agent used for the treatment of systemic fungal infections in cancer patients. Exposure to adriamycin for 24 h increased the growth of C. albicans and increased the tolerance to amphotericin B by a small, but statistically significant, extent. Growth in adriamycin-supplemented medium suppressed the respiration rate of C. albicans, which resulted in a decrease in the ergosterol content of the fungal cell membrane. The tolerance to amphotericin B was lost after exposure to adriamycin for 48 h, which coincided with a restoration in the respiration rate and the ergosterol content of the fungal cell membrane. This work demonstrated that short-term exposure (24 h) to adriamycin increased the tolerance of C. albicans for amphotericin B, which may be mediated by a decrease in the ergosterol content as a result of an adriamycin-induced disruption of oxidative phosphorylation.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Antifungal drug-resistance; fungal-infections; pathogenic fungi; cell-death; IN-VIRTO; fluconzole; susceptibility; prophylaxis; apoptosis;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Science and Engineering > Biology
Item ID:	181
Depositing User:	Dr. Kevin Kavanagh
Date Deposited:	10 Jan 2005
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology
Publisher:	Royal Pharmaceutical Society Greaat Britain
Refereed:	Yes
URI:
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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