Identification and differentiation of Trichophyton rubrum clinical isolates using PCR-RFLP and RAPD methods

Trichophyton rubrum represents the most frequently isolated causative agent of superficial dermatophyte infections. Several genotyping methods have recently been introduced to improve the delineation between pathogenic fungi at both the species and the strain levels. The purpose of this study was to apply selected DNA fingerprinting methods to the identification and strain discrimination of T. rubrum clinical isolates. Fifty-seven isolates from as many tinea patients were subjected to species identification by polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis and strain differentiation using a randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) method, with two primers designated 1 and 6. Using PCR-RFLP, 55 of the isolates studied were confirmed to be T. rubrum. Among those, a total of 40 and five distinct profiles were obtained by RAPD with primers 1 and 6, respectively. The combination of profiles from both RAPD assays resulted in 47 genotypes and an overall genotypic diversity rate of 85.4%. A dendrogram analysis performed on the profiles generated by RAPD with primer 1 showed most of the isolates (87.3%) to be genetically related. PCR-RFLP serves as a rapid and reliable method for the identification of T. rubrum species, while the RAPD analysis is rather a disadvantageous tool for T. rubrum strain typing

Photodynamic therapy in the treatment of onychomycosis – a review

Toenail onychomycosis is a common infection, affecting up to 14% of the population. Moreover, poor penetration of topical drugs into the nail bed leads to frequent recurrences of the disease. The cure rate of toenail onychomycosis is estimated at 63–76%. An alternative treatment for onychomycosis is photodynamic therapy. Following agents are used in this method: porfimer sodium, rose bengal, methylene blue, 5-aminolevulinic acid and its derivative – methyl ester. The therapy is well tolerated Photodynamic therapy offers an opportunity to achieve a significant cure rate in patients who cannot receive oral therapy. Thanks to systematic improvements in photodynamic therapy, including better photosensitizer penetration into the nail bed and shorter exposure time, photodynamic therapy may be more efficient and cost-effective than other onychomycosis treatments. However, randomized clinical trials evaluating the efficacy of photodynamic therapy of onychomycosis are needed