to identify heterogeneity of candida albicans ( c. albicans ) isolated from the population with cancer in china by using identification medium , subculture molecular typing , and antifungal susceptibility test . oral cheek mucosal specimens from 52 cancer patients receiving chemotherapy were cultured on chromagar candida plates for candida identification . all the c. albicans colonies on the plates were subcultured and reconfirmed by api20c , then submitted to the antifungal drug susceptibility test with fluconazole and molecular typing using randomly amplified polymorphic dna - pcr ( rapd ) with primers rsd6 and rsd12 . 54% ( 28/52 ) patients were oral yeast carriage in which c. albicans predominated . more than 7 c. albicans colonies were isolated from each of 12 patients ( group a ) , while less than 5 colonies were isolated from each of 16 patients ( group b ) . rsd6 and rsd12 were successful in eliciting 17 ( a1-a17 ) and 2 ( b1-b2 ) genotypes , respectively from among the 205 isolates . the c. albicans isolates obtained from the same patient and episode showed a diversity for fluconazole revealed by mic50 and mic90 . the heterogeneity of the c. albicans colonies isolated from the same patients can be detected . c. albicans with varied fluconazole susceptibility and genotypic characteristics may coexist in the same oral candida population .
aimto identify heterogeneity of candida albicans ( c. albicans ) isolated from the population with cancer in china by using identification medium , subculture molecular typing , and antifungal susceptibility test.methodologyoral cheek mucosal specimens from 52 cancer patients receiving chemotherapy were cultured on chromagar candidatm plates for candida identification . 
 all the c. albicans colonies on the plates were subcultured and reconfirmed by api20c , then submitted to the antifungal drug susceptibility test with fluconazole and molecular typing using randomly amplified polymorphic dna - pcr ( rapd ) with primers rsd6 and rsd12.results54% ( 28/52 ) patients were oral yeast carriage in which c. albicans predominated . 
 more than 7 c. albicans colonies were isolated from each of 12 patients ( group a ) , while less than 5 colonies were isolated from each of 16 patients ( group b ) . 
 rsd6 and rsd12 were successful in eliciting 17 ( a1-a17 ) and 2 ( b1-b2 ) genotypes , respectively from among the 205 isolates . 
 the two primers were combined to generate 21 genotypes . 
 the c. albicans isolates obtained from the same patient and episode showed a diversity for fluconazole revealed by mic50 and mic90.conclusionthe heterogeneity of the c. albicans colonies isolated from the same patients can be detected . 
 c. albicans with varied fluconazole susceptibility and genotypic characteristics may coexist in the same oral candida population .