Efficacy of a single 6 mg/kg versus two 3 mg/kg caspofungin doses for treatment of disseminated candidiasis caused by Candida albicans in a neutropenic mouse model.

ABSTRACT

We compared the efficacy of single six mg/kg and 2x3 mg/kg caspofungin doses to the traditional one mg/kg daily against C. albicans in a neutropenic murine model. In lethality experiments, all regimens improved survival (p<0.0014 for all three isolates); differences among the treated groups were not statistically significant. We calculated kidney fungal burdens on each study day for six days postinfection using two isolates in two experiments. In the first three days, only the six mg/kg dose produced significant decrease on all study days (p<0.05-0.001), but differences between the three treatment arms disappeared by 4-6 days postinfection (p<0.05 for all isolates on all days).