[Fungicidal activity of liranaftate against dermatophytes]

The fungicidal activities of the thiocarbamate Antifungal agent liranaftate were compared to those of luliconazole, amorolfine hydrochloride and ketoconazole against twelve stock strains of three species of dermatophytes. The MICs of 0.001-0.009 microg/ml of luliconazole against Trichophyton rubrum (n=6)were the lowest among the agents tested, but its MCCs were considerably higher. Consequently, the Antifungal potency of luliconazole was considered fungistatic. In contrast to this, the MCCs of 0.009-0.039 microg/ml of liranaftate against T. rubrum were the lowest and similar to its MICs. These results showed that liranaftate was fungicidal. All antifungals except ketoconazole tended to be fungicidal against both T. mentagrophytes (n=3)and Microsporum gypseum (n=3). In time-kill studies, liranaftate showed the greatest decrease to a below detection limit in viable counts of T. rubrum. The degree of killing of the strain by amorolfine was not greater than that seen by liranaftate, and little reduction of the viable counts by luliconazole and ketoconazole was observed irrespective of concentrations of the agents. Conversely, there were no differences among four agents in fungicidal activities against T.mentagrophytes. The killing activities of liranaftate against M. gypseum were also higher than those of comparable agents, as true of T. rubrum described above. In this study we found that it was harder to kill T. rubrum than other dermatophytes. Therefore, liranaftate with its potent fungicidal activities was suggested an efficacious agent for the treatment of dermatophytes.