In this study, we evaluated the molecular mechanisms of azole resistance in 20 fluconazole-resistant C. albicans isolates obtained from Iranian HIV-infected patients with oropharyngeal candidiasis by Real-Time polymerase chain reaction.
The overexpression of drug efflux pump CDR1 gene was found to be the major resistance mechanism observed in these isolates. The overexpression of the CDR1 gene correlated strongly with increasing resistance to fluconazole (P < 0.05). Additionally, an increased level of mRNA in ERG11 was not observed in any of the tested isolates.
Our findings suggested that the CDR1 gene expression to fluconazole resistance in C. albicans is greater than other known genes.