Presence of genes encoding panton-valentine leukocidin is not the primary determinant of outcome in patients with hospital-acquired pneumonia due to Staphylococcus aureus.
The impact of Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) on the outcome in Staphylococcus aureus pneumonia is controversial. We genotyped S. aureus isolates from patients with hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) enrolled in two registrational multinational clinical trials for the genetic elements carrying pvl and 30 other virulence genes. A total of 287 isolates (173 methicillin-resistant S. aureus [MRSA] and 114 methicillin-susceptible S. aureus [MSSA] isolates) from patients from 127 centers in 34 countries for whom clinical outcomes of cure or failure were available underwent genotyping. Of these, pvl was detected by PCR and its product confirmed in 23 isolates (8.0%) (MRSA, 18/173 isolates [10.4%]; MSSA, 5/114 isolates [4.4%]). The presence of pvl was not associated with a higher risk for clinical failure (4/23 [17.4%] versus 48/264 [18.2%]; P = 1.00) or mortality. These findings persisted after adjustment for multiple potential confounding variables. No significant associations between clinical outcome and (i) presence of any of the 30 other virulence genes tested, (ii) presence of specific bacterial clone, (iii) levels of alpha-hemolysin, or (iv) delta-hemolysin production were identified. This study suggests that neither pvl presence nor in vitro level of alpha-hemolysin production is the primary determinant of outcome among patients with HAP caused by S. aureus.
Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
Batu K
BK
Sharma-Kuinkel
Sun H
SH
Ahn
Thomas H
TH
Rude
Yurong
Y
Zhang
Steven Y C
SY
Tong
Felicia
F
Ruffin
Fredric C
FC
Genter
Kevin R
KR
Braughton
Frank R
FR
Deleo
Steven L
SL
Barriere
Vance G
VG
Fowler
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000235:genetics*; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D005098:Exotoxins / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007956:Leukocidins / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D058889:Molecular Typing; D011023:Pneumonia, Staphylococcal / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000235:genetics*
D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D005098:Exotoxins; D007956:Leukocidins; C078284:Panton-Valentine leukocidin; D037521:Virulence Factors