Loss of LPS is involved in the virulence and resistance to colistin of colistin-resistant Acinetobacter nosocomialis mutants selected in vitro.

OBJECTIVES: Acinetobacter nosocomialis has increasingly been reported as an opportunistic pathogen causing nosocomial infections. Although it is more susceptible to all antimicrobial agents than Acinetobacter baumannii, MDR clinical isolates have also been described. In addition, several studies have shown a high percentage of resistance to colistin. Therefore, in the present study we investigated the mechanism of resistance to colistin in this microorganism. METHODS: Colistin-resistant strains were selected from the original colistin-susceptible A. nosocomialis strain following multi-step mutant selection. Comparative genomic and proteomic analyses of both colistin-susceptible and colistin-resistant A. nosocomialis strains were performed. In addition, virulence was investigated using the Caenorhabditis elegans assay. RESULTS: The colistin-resistant mutants selected showed a lower resistance profile for other types of antibacterial agents together with a significant decrease in virulence. The LT50 (i.e. time required to kill 50% of the nematodes) for the colistin-susceptible strain (WT) was 7 days compared with 9 days for the colistin-resistant strain (256) (P < 0.0001). In the genomic studies, several mutations were observed in the lpxD genes, leading to the loss of LPS in the colistin-resistant strains. The proteomic studies showed several up- and down-regulated proteins that may be involved in colistin resistance or in a decrease in the resistance profile for several antibiotics. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that the mechanism of resistance to colistin by A. nosocomialis is mainly associated with the loss of LPS due to mutations in the lpxD gene, although changes in the expression of some proteins cannot be ruled out. In addition, the acquisition of colistin resistance is related to a decrease in virulence.

CSA-131, a ceragenin active against colistin-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolates.

In the last decade the number of Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates showing extended drug resistance and pandrug resistance has steadily increased, thereby limiting or eliminating the antibiotics that can be used to treat infections by these micro-organisms. In addition, few antibiotics have been launched in the last decade. The objective of this study was to investigate the in vitro activity of several ceragenins against A. baumannii and P. aeruginosa. Four ceragenins (CSA-138, -13, -131 and -44) were tested both against colistin-susceptible and colistin-resistant A. baumannii and P. aeruginosa clinical isolates using the microdilution method. Time-kill curves of CSA-131 were performed against colistin-resistant A. baumannii and P. aeruginosa strains. The ceragenin CSA-131 showed the best activity against A. baumannii and P. aeruginosa, with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of 2 mg/L and <0.5 mg/L, respectively. MIC(50) and MIC(90) values were determined using 15 epidemiologically unrelated A. baumannii and P. aeruginosa strains, with MIC(50) and MIC(90) values for CSA-131 being 2 mg/L for A. baumannii and 1 mg/L and 2 mg/L, respectively, for P. aeruginosa. The killing curves of CSA-131 showed bactericidal behaviour at all of the concentrations tested, with re-growth at the lowest concentrations both in A. baumannii and P. aeruginosa. The good MICs of CSA-131 both against A. baumannii and P. aeruginosa and its high bactericidal activity may make this ceragenin a potential future agent to treat infections caused by these two pathogens even when the strain is resistant to colistin.