Truşcă Bianca Simona, Gheorghe-Barbu Irina, Manea Marina, Ianculescu Elvira, Barbu Ilda Czobor, Măruțescu Luminița Gabriela, Dițu Lia-Mara, Chifiriuc Mariana-Carmen, Lazăr Veronica
Fundeni Clinical Institute, 022328 Bucharest, Romania.
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Biology, University of Bucharest, 060101 Bucharest, Romania.
Pathogens. 2023 Apr 17;12(4):609. doi: 10.3390/pathogens12040609.
A current major healthcare problem is represented by antibiotic resistance, mainly due to multidrug resistant (MDR) Gram negative bacilli (GNB), because of their extended spread both in hospital facilities and in the community's environment. The aim of this study was to investigate the virulence traits of , and MDR, XDR, and PDR strains isolated from various hospitalized patients. These GNB strains were investigated for the presence of soluble virulence factors (VF), such as hemolysins, lecithinase, amylase, lipase, caseinase, gelatinase, and esculin hydrolysis, as well as for the presence of virulence genes encoding for VF involved in adherence (, , and ), biofilm formation (, , , , , and ), tissue destruction ( and ), and in toxin production (, , , and complex). All strains produced hemolysins; 90% produced lecithinase; and 80% harbored and genes. The esculin hydrolysis was detected in 96.1% of the strains, whereas 86% of them were positive for the gene. All of the strains produced lecithinase and 80% presented the gene. A significant association was found between the number of VF and the XDR strains, regardless of the isolation sources. This study opens new research perspectives related to bacterial fitness and pathogenicity, and it provides new insights regarding the connection between biofilm formation, other virulence factors, and antibiotic resistance.
当前一个主要的医疗保健问题是抗生素耐药性，主要是由于多重耐药（MDR）革兰氏阴性杆菌（GNB），因为它们在医院设施和社区环境中广泛传播。本研究的目的是调查从不同住院患者中分离出的、、MDR、XDR和PDR菌株的毒力特征。对这些GNB菌株进行了可溶性毒力因子（VF）的检测，如溶血素、卵磷脂酶、淀粉酶、脂肪酶、酪蛋白酶、明胶酶和七叶苷水解，以及参与黏附（、、和）、生物膜形成（、、、、、和）、组织破坏（和）和毒素产生（、、、和复合体）的VF编码毒力基因的检测。所有菌株均产生溶血素；90%产生卵磷脂酶；80%携带和基因。在96.1%的菌株中检测到七叶苷水解，而其中86%的菌株基因呈阳性。所有菌株均产生卵磷脂酶，80%呈现基因。无论分离来源如何，在VF数量与XDR菌株之间发现了显著关联。本研究开启了与细菌适应性和致病性相关的新研究视角，并提供了关于生物膜形成、其他毒力因子与抗生素耐药性之间联系的新见解。
