title: Presence of fibrinogen-binding adhesin gene in Staphylococcus epidermidis isolates from central venous catheters-associated and orthopaedic implant-associated infections.
abstract: Attention has recently been paid to identify and elucidate those pathogenetic mechanisms, which play a significant role in sustaining the early phases of Staphylococcus epidermidis colonisation and infection development. Several analogies with the physiology of Staphylococcus aureus, a more thoroughly investigated pathogen, have lead to carefully consider all bacterial surface components that mediate cell adhesion. This study aimed at investigating the presence of the fbe gene encoding for a fibrinogen-binding protein in a collection of 107 S. epidermidis strains isolated from orthopaedic infections and 67 from central venous catheter-associated infections. The strains isolated from orthopaedic infections were in large part associated to four different classes of orthopaedic devices, respectively: internal fixation devices, external fixation devices, knee arthroprostheses and hip arthroprostheses. The molecular epidemiology analysis performed by PCR enlightened a statistically significant difference in the prevalence of this adhesion mechanism between orthopaedic infections and catheter-related infections, respectively, of 78% and 91%. The prevalence of fbe ranged from 67% to 91%, suggesting that, even though this adhesin is not strictly necessary for the development of infection, nevertheless it represents a rather common characteristic of strains causing clinical infections, this independently on the presence or the absence of implant materials.
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratory on Biocompatibility of Implant Materials, Rizzoli Orthopedic Institute, Via di Barbiano, 1/10, Bologna 40136, Italy.
authors.forename: Carla Renata
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Arciola
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Campoccia
authors.forename: Simonetta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gamberini
authors.forename: M Elena
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Donati
authors.forename: Lucio
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Montanaro
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D002408:Catheters, Indwelling / Q000382:microbiology*; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D016459:Prosthesis-Related Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D013212:Staphylococcus epidermidis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D002352:Carrier Proteins; C112556:Fbe protein, bacteria