In vivo efficacy of voriconazole and posaconazole therapy in a novel invertebrate model of Aspergillus fumigatus infection

• Galleria mellonella is an alternative model to assess the in vivo efficacy of azoles.
• The MICs observed in vitro correlate with the efficacy observed in vivo.
• The AUC0–24/MIC predicts the susceptibility profile of Aspergillus fumigatus strains.

The emergence of azole resistance in Aspergillus fumigatus is a clinically important issue in the management of invasive aspergillosis as it could limit therapeutic options. Accurate measurement of in vitro antifungal activity in terms of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) is considered of clinical relevance and often gives useful therapeutic information for physicians. However, the lack of in vitro–in vivo correlation is frequent and the observed in vitro phenotype does not always correlate with the in vivo response. In this regard, a wild-type strain and five A. fumigatus cyp51A mutated strains showing different azole susceptibility profiles were used to investigate whether the greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella) is an alternative model to assess the in vivo efficacy of voriconazole and posaconazole. Administration of both azoles improved the survival of larvae infected with susceptible strains. However, those larvae infected with resistant strains did not respond to treatment. The phenotype observed in vitro was found to correlate with the efficacy observed in vivo. Moreover, using this in vivo model, the pharmacodynamic target predicting therapeutic success (AUC0–24/MIC) was in the same range as previously described, allowing the use of the G. mellonella model to predict the azole susceptibility profile of A. fumigatus strains.