Effects of caspofungin against Candida guilliermondii and Candida parapsilosis

The in vitro activity of caspofungin (CAS) was investigated against 28 yeast isolates belonging to Candida albicans (n = 5), Candida guilliermondii (n = 10), and Candida parapsilosis (n = 13). CAS MICs obtained by broth dilution and Etest methods clearly showed a rank order of susceptibility to the echinocandin compound with C. albicans > C. parapsilosis > C. guilliermondii. Similarly, time-kill assays performed on selected isolates showed that CAS was fungistatic against C. albicans and C. parapsilosis, while it did not exert any activity against C. guilliermondii. In a murine model of systemic candidiasis, CAS given at doses as low as 1 mg/kg of body weight/day was effective at reducing the kidney burden of mice infected with either C. albicans or C. guilliermondii isolates. Depending on the isolate tested, mice infected with C. parapsilosis responded to CAS given at 1 and/or 5 mg/kg/day. However, the overall CFU reduction for C. guilliermondii and C. parapsilosis was approximately 100-fold less than that for C. albicans. Our study shows that CAS was active in experimental systemic candidiasis due to C. guilliermondii and C. parapsilosis, but this activity required relatively high drug dosages.