Patent ID: 8021846

Claim:
A method for determining azole resistance in Candida glabrata , comprising the steps of a) obtaining a biological sample containing Candida glabrata; b) isolating RNA from said biological sample; c) performing qRT-PCR to determine mRNA level of CDR1 gene of said biological sample; and d) comparing said mRNA level in step (c) with an average mRNA level to obtain a fold-change value, said average mRNA level is obtained by a process, said process comprises the steps of: (i) obtaining a plurality of azole susceptible isolates of Candida glabrata , wherein said azole susceptible isolates are determined using a microbroth dilution assay conducted at a plurality of azole MIC concentrations between about 2 μg/mL to about 8 μg/mL; (ii) performing qRT-PCR to determine normalized mRNA level of CDR1 gene of said azole susceptible isolates for each azole MIC concentration; (iii) generating a trend line between said normalized CDR1 expression level in step (ii) and said azole MIC concentrations in step (i); (iv) calculating the mean of at least one normalized CDR1 expression level above said trend line and at least one normalized CDR1 expression level below said trend line to obtain an average normalized CDR1 expression level for each azole MIC concentration; and (v) calculating the mean of said average normalized CDR1 expression levels to obtain an average mRNA level, wherein a ≧2-fold change value is indicative of azole resistance of said Candida glabrata present in said biological sample, and wherein said method having a sensitivity of≧90% and a specificity ≧90%.