Overexpression of MDR-1 and CDR-2 genes in fluconazole resistance of Candida albicans isolated from patients with vulvovaginal candidiasis

( ) is an opportunistic fungus that can colonize women's mucosal epithelial cell surfaces, causing vulvovaginitis in specific circumstances. The major genes contributing to drug resistance in are the candida drug resistance ( ) and multi drug resistance ( ) genes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the and gene expression patterns in strains isolated from patients with recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis. In this study, 40 isolates of fluconazole-resistant were cultured on Sabouraud dextrose agar. These isolates were collected from women with vulvovaginitis who were referred to a clinic in Tehran, Iran, and transferred to a mycology laboratory. Then, RNA was extracted from the isolates using phenol-chloroform and glass beads, and the complementary DNA (cDNA) was synthetized. To detect the semi-quantitative expression of and genes, the reverse transcriptase-PCR (RT-PCR) technique was performed using specific primers. Our findings indicated that of the 40 isolates, 35 (87.5%) strains were positive for mRNA of the gene, 32 (80%) strains expressed mRNA of the gene, and 30 (75%) strains were confirmed to express mRNA of both the and genes simultaneously using the RT-PCR assay. According to the obtained results, the expression rates of and genes were high in fluconazole-resistant isolates, which can cause treatments to fail and result in chronic infections. Inhibiting these important genes using novel or natural agents can help with the treatment of chronic and recurrent vaginitis.