title: Expression of enterotoxin-coding genes in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from Mexican haemodialysis patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) causes severe catheter-related infections in haemodialysis patients ranging from local-site infections and septic thrombophlebitis to bacteraemia but the associated virulence factors and exotoxins remain unclear.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We employed an in vitro infection model using reconstituted human epithelium (RHE) to analyse the expression profiles of 4 virulence genes and 12 exotoxin-coding virulence genes in 21 MRSA strains isolated from catheter-related infections in 21 Mexican patients undergoing haemodialysis. All 21 strains (100%) expressed the seg, seh, sei, eta, etb, or hla genes coding staphylococcal toxins. Eleven MRSA strains (52.3%) expressed the sea gene coding staphylococcal enterotoxin A, and two strains (9.5%) expressed the v8 gene coding serine protease. The tst, chp, and arcA genes coding toxic shock syndrome toxin 1, chemotaxis inhibitory protein, and arginine deiminase, respectively, were expressed in separate single strains (4.7%). The most frequent expression profile (42.8% of the strains) comprised seg, seh, sei, eta, etb, and hla.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It is likely that the SEG, SEH, SEI, ETA, ETB, and Hla toxins may play a role in MRSA catheter-related infections. Consideration of these toxins in the development of a vaccine or as targets for monoclonal antibody therapy could provide an improved therapeutic strategy for the treatment of catheter-related infections in haemodialysis patients.
authors.affiliation: FES-Iztacala, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Av de Los Barrios 1, Los Reyes Iztacala, Tlalnepantla, 54090, Edo de México, México. mya@unam.mx.
authors.forename: Gloria Luz
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Paniagua-Contreras
authors.affiliation: FES-Iztacala, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Av de Los Barrios 1, Los Reyes Iztacala, Tlalnepantla, 54090, Edo de México, México. mopi@unam.mx.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Monroy-Pérez
authors.affiliation: FES-Iztacala, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Av de Los Barrios 1, Los Reyes Iztacala, Tlalnepantla, 54090, Edo de México, México. felipe.vaca@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Felipe
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vaca-Paniagua
authors.affiliation: Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, G. Baz esq. F. Gómez, Tlalnepantla, Edo de México, México. rodmoc@prodigy.net.mx.
authors.forename: José Raymundo
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Moctezuma
authors.affiliation: FES-Iztacala, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Av de Los Barrios 1, Los Reyes Iztacala, Tlalnepantla, 54090, Edo de México, México. vacasergio@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vaca
mesh_terms: D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D055499:Catheter-Related Infections / Q000382:microbiology; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics*; D004848:Epithelium / Q000382:microbiology; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008800:Mexico; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009924:Organ Culture Techniques; D006435:Renal Dialysis; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D004768:Enterotoxins