bThe management of invasive aspergillosis (IA) has become more complicated due to the emergence of acquired azole resistance in Aspergillus fumigatus, which is associated with treatment failure and a mortality rate of 88%. Treatment with liposomal amphotericin B (L-AmB) may be a useful alternative to improve therapeutic outcome in azole-resistant IA. Four clinical A. fumigatus isolates obtained from patients with proven IA were studied in a nonneutropenic murine model of infection: a wildtype isolate without mutations in the cyp51A gene and three azole-resistant isolates harboring a single mutation at codon 220 (M220I) and tandem repeat mutations (a 34-bp tandem repeat mutation in the promoter region of the cyp51A gene in combina
Voriconazole is the recommended first-choice therapy for invasive infections caused by Aspergillus species (1, 2). However, the management of invasive aspergillosis (IA) has become more complicated due to the emergence of acquired azole resistance in Aspergillus fumigatus (3), and azole resistance has been reported on different continents (4-8). There is increasing evidence that azole resistance is associated with treatment failure (5, 9, 10), and a mortality rate of 88% has been reported (5). These clinical observations are also supported by animal models of IA, where the MIC was shown to have major implications for the efficacy of voriconazole and posaconazole (11,12). Therefore, it is important to explore alternative treatment regimens. Lipid formulations of the amphotericin B and echinocandin antifungals or combination therapy may be important alternative options, in patients with azole-resistant Aspergillus diseases.We previously investigated the pharmacodynamics of anidulafungin monotherapy and the combination of voriconazole and anidulafungin (13)(14)(15). Although anidulafungin treatment improved the survival of mice in a dose-dependent manner, a maximal response was not achieved when mice were infected with an azole-susceptible or azole-resistant isolate, even in those treated with the highest anidulafungin dose. The results of combination therapy suggested that voriconazole and anidulafungin have a synergistic interaction in mice infected with a voriconazole-susceptible isolate. However, the synergistic interaction was lost in the azole-resistant isolate (voriconazole MIC, 4 mg/liter), as only an additive interaction was observed (13). A relation between the voriconazole MIC and the fractional inhibitory concentration (FIC) index was observed in vitro, which indicated that further increase of the voriconazole MIC was associated with less favorable drug interaction (14). In infection due to isolates which are highly resistant to voriconazole, the efficacy of the combination might rely only on that of anidulafungin, which is suboptimal. In clinical practice, this is a major drawback, as isolates that are highly resistant to voriconazole are increasingly common (4), and in culture-negative patients we will be unable to determine voriconazole susceptibility.Treatment with a lipos...