New methods for the rapid identification and antifungal susceptibility testing of clinically important Candida species

This Ph.D. project focused on the optimization of a new method for the rapid detection of Candida species that are resistant to antifungals aiming at future use in routine clinical laboratories. The present study provides the first comprehensive assessment of MALDI-TOF MS for AFST against echinocandins. MALDI Biotyper antibiotic susceptibility test rapid assay (MBT ASTRA), a semi-quantitative method based on MALDI TOF MS, was optimized to detect C. albicans, C. glabrata, and C. auris resistant to echinocandins within 7h. This method is potential to be automated and it will be introduced to routine clinical laboratories after further optimization and automization. Accordingly, MBT ASTRA has the potential to get used for testing a broad range of microorganisms against different antibiotics and antifungals. Furthermore, if a MALDI-TOF MS is available in the lab, the price to apply MBT ASTRA per sample is affordable. In addition, a comparative study has been performed on different typing methods for C. auris, and possibilities have been explored for the use of a lactoferine peptide (hLF1-11) for the enrichment and identification of C. albicans.
The findings of this study showed that MALDI-TOF MS is not only an accurate and outstanding method for the identification of microbes, but its application in AFST has also been approved. Therefore, it may open a new window for a broader application of the MALDI-TOF MS technique to be used in research and clinical laboratories in the future.