Regulatory Role of and Efg1 in Azoles-Resistant Strains of Isolated from Patients Diagnosed with Vulvovaginal Candidiasis.

Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC), caused by , affects women's health and life. We aimed to explore the correlation between as well as Efg1 mutation/overexpression and azoles-resistance, and the correlation between and Efg1 mRNA expression in . First, was isolated from clinical VVC patients. and Efg1 mutations were detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing, and the expression levels of these two genes were also identified by qRT-PCR. Correlations between mutation/overexpression of /Efg1 and azoles-resistance as well as and Efg1 mRNA expression were analyzed. Based on the sequencing, the results showed that there were 2 missense mutation sites, 1 nonsense mutation site, and 4 silent mutation sites, while 1 missense mutation sites, 1 nonsense mutation site, and 12 silent mutation sites were found in Efg1. Furthermore, the mRNA levels of gene in the strains sensitive to FCA, ITR or VRC were higher than those in the strains resistant to FCA, ITR, VRC ( < 0.05). While for the mRNA levels of Efg1, susceptible strains were lower than resistant strains. Besides, there was a significant linear negative correlation between and Efg1 mRNA expression (r = - 0.614,  < 0.001).