Vancomycin-intermediate Staphylococcus aureus isolates are attenuated for virulence when compared with susceptible progenitors

DR Cameron; YH Lin; S Trouillet-Assant; V Tafani; X Kostoulias; E Mouhtouris; N Skinner; K Visvanathan; SL Baines; B Howden; IR Monk; F Laurent; TP Stinear; BP Howden; AY Peleg

Journal article

Vancomycin-intermediate Staphylococcus aureus isolates are attenuated for virulence when compared with susceptible progenitors

DR Cameron, YH Lin, S Trouillet-Assant, V Tafani, X Kostoulias, E Mouhtouris, N Skinner, K Visvanathan, SL Baines, B Howden, IR Monk, F Laurent, TP Stinear, BP Howden, AY Peleg

Clinical Microbiology and Infection | ELSEVIER SCI LTD | Published : 2017

DOI: 10.1016/j.cmi.2017.03.027

Abstract

Objectives Vancomycin-intermediate Staphylococcus aureus (VISA) is associated with genetic changes that may also impact upon pathogenicity. In the current study, we compared the virulence of clinical VISA strains with their isogenic vancomycin-susceptible progenitors (VSSA). Methods Production of the critical virulence protein, α toxin, was assessed using Western blot analysis and was correlated to agr activity using a bioluminescent agr-reporter. Cytotoxicity and intracellular persistence were compared ex vivo for VSSA and VISA within non-professional phagocytes (NPP). Virulence and host immune responses were further explored in vivo using a murine model of bacteraemia. Results VISA isolate..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Kumar Visvanathan Author

Sarah Baines Author

Ian Monk Author

Tim Stinear Author

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Funding Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia (GNT1008973), and fellowships to BPH (GNT1105905), TPS (GNT1008549) and AYP (GNT1047916). DRC was supported by an Australian Postgraduate Award and a Monash University Postgraduate Publication Award.