P. aeruginosa est une bactérie pathogène de l'homme, responsable d'infections nosocomiales chez les patients immunodéprimés. Bien que son évolution au sein d'un patient soit bien décrite, son évolution génomique globale au cours de sa propagation dans un hôpital est très mal connue. Le clone à haut-risque ST395 multirésistant aux antibiotiques a diffusé dans le Centre Hospitalier Regional Universitaire de Besançon entre 1997 et 2008 en infectant ou colonisant plus de 300 patients. Une approche WGS a été utilisée afin d'identifier l'origine de l'épidémie, les caractéristiques ayant aidé à son installation à l'hôpital ainsi que celles à l'origine de sa disparition. Les génomes de 54 isolats représentatifs de l'épidémie ont été séquencés. L’arbre phylogénétique a mis en évidence deux clusters distincts indiquant la présence de deux épidémies parallèles. La datation d'un ancêtre commun en 1979, date de début de la construction de l'hôpital, indiquerait une contamination précoce du réseau d'eau de l'hôpital. Cette hypothèse est soutenue par la présence d'un îlot génomique spécifique de ST395 portant les gènes codant 6 transporteurs du cuivre et associée à une résistance phénotypique à ce métal constituant les tuyaux du réseaux de distribution d'eau potable. Les isolats tardifs présentaient des signatures génomiques d'adaptation à l’infection chronique (altération du lipopolysaccharide et de la porine OprD – objectivées phénotypiquement, et extinction de la surproduction de la pompe d’efflux MexAB-OprM – contrôlée par RT-qPCR) suite à des mutations indépendantes. Certaines de ces mutations ont été associées à une perte de fitness bactérien. Nous émettons l’hypothèse que l’émergence indépendante d’isolats adaptés à l’infection chronique, et ainsi l’accumulation de culs-de-sac épidémiologiques, a participé à l’épuisement de l’épidémie hospitalière de P. aeruginosa ST395. / P. aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen responsible of hospital-acquired infections in immunocompromised patients. Although in-host evolution of P. aeruginosa is well documented, little is known about this pathogen evolution during its spread on a hospital scale. The high-risk multidrug resistant clone ST395 spread among more than 300 patients in the University Hospital of Besançon between 1997 and 2008. We used a WGS approach to identify the origin of the outbreak, the features that could have helped its implantation in our hospital and those associated with the end of the epidemics. The genomes of 54 representative isolates were fully sequenced. The phylogenetic tree indicated two distinct clusters corresponding to two parallel outbreaks. The ancestor of the ST395 clone possibly contaminated our hospital water network during its construction in 1979. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that the ST395 strain had a specific genomic island carrying 6 copper transporter genes implicated in copper resistance, correlated with the resistance to this metal which water supply network is made of. The late isolates displayed independent genomic signatures of chronic adaptation in patients (altered LPS and porin OprD, and extinction of MexAB-oprM efflux pump overproduction). Some of these mutations were associated with a decreased in vitro fitness. We hypothesize that the independent emergence of isolates adapted to chronic infection, and thus the accumulation of epidemiological dead-ends, participated to the end of the hospital outbreak of P. aeruginosa ST395.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:24:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2013-08-02Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:51:59Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000749221.pdf: 6598265 bytes, checksum: f3ea8b6c7b5316028539f3dcc741df58 (MD5) / Estudos recentes identificaram comportamento sazonal de alguns microrganismos implicados na etiologia das Infecções Hospitalares ou Relacionadas à Assistência em Saúde (IH/IRAS). A maior parte desses estudos foi conduzida em países de clima temperado. Para identificar a sazonalidade de patógenos hospitalares em uma região tropical, nós conduzimos um estudo ecológico e um caso-controle, envolvendo hemoculturas positivas de presumível origem hospitalar (colhidas após o terceiro dia de internação) do Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina de Botucatu no período de 2005 a 2010. O estudo foi realizado em duas fases. No estudo ecológico, foram realizadas: (a) comparações de incidência de bacteremias por microrganimos ou grupos específicos em meses “quentes/úmidos” (outubro-março) e “frios/secos” (abril a setembro); (b) análise de regressão para identificar relação entre temperatura e umidade médias e incidência mensal de bacteremias; (c) análise de séries temporais para identificação de sazonalidade.No “casocontrole”, foram abordados fatores climáticos (temperatura e umidade médias dos sete dias que precederam a coleta de cada hemocultura) para identificar preditores do isolamento de microrganismos e grupos específicos, em modelo de regressão logística. Os resultados demonstraram consistência entre as diversas abordagens, identificando para três grupos (Gram-negativos como um todo, Acinetobacter baumannii e Enterobacter spp) um aumento de incidência nos meses “quentes/úmidos”, relação significante entre temperatura média mensal e incidência e sazonalidade em modelos estocásticos. Neste último teste, também se detectou sazonalidade para estafilococos coagulase-negativa, aparentemente não relacionada a fatores climáticos. No estudo de base individual (“caso-controle”) identificamos correlação entre temperaturas elevadas na semana anterior... / Recent studies identified seasonal behavior of some microorganisms implicated in the etiology of Healthcare-associated Infections (HAIs). Most of these studies were conducted in developed countries with temperate climate. In order to identify the seasonality of nosocomial pathogens in a tropical region, we conducted an ecological study involving positive blood cultures of suspected nosocomial origin (collected after the third day of hospitalization) in the Hospital das Clinicas from Faculdade de Medicina de Botucatu in the period 2005-2010. The study was conducted in two phases. In the first (“ecologic study”) we performed: (a) comparisons of the incidence of bacteremia caused by specific organisms or groups during “warm” (October to March) and cold” (April to September) months; (b) regression analysis, aimed at identifying the association between temperature and humidity and the average monthly incidence of bacteremia, (c) time series analysis. In the second phase, (“casecontrol”), weather factors (temperature and humidity averages of the seven days preceding the collection of each blood cultures) were addressed in order to identify predictors of isolation of specific microorganisms and groups in the logistic regression model. The results showed consistency between the various approaches. Three groups (Gram-negative as a whole, Acinetobacter baumannii and Enterobacter spp) presented increased incidence in “warm” months, significant relation between mean temperature and monthly incidence and seasonality in stochastic models. Those models also detected seasonality for coagulase-negative staphylococci, apparently not related to climatic factors. In individualbased analysis (case-control) we identified correlation between high temperatures in the past week and recovery of Gram-negatives in general, and among these, A. baumannii. The findings are consistent with the literature, showing ...

Submitted by PATRICK DA SILVA null (patrick_dasilva@ymail.com) on 2016-09-01T14:44:37Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Patrick da Silva.pdf: 3098856 bytes, checksum: 3fb93fb0061cbc5d3f1d4f4066945e07 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Juliano Benedito Ferreira (julianoferreira@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2016-09-01T18:20:53Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 silva_p_me_arafcf.pdf: 3098856 bytes, checksum: 3fb93fb0061cbc5d3f1d4f4066945e07 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-01T18:20:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 silva_p_me_arafcf.pdf: 3098856 bytes, checksum: 3fb93fb0061cbc5d3f1d4f4066945e07 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-07-19 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / Sinalização química em bactérias patogênicas é um mecanismo empregado para interagir com o hospedeiro e sua respectiva microbiota. Através desta interação ocorre a regulação dos mecanismos de virulência. Estudando o mecanismo de sinalização química do sistema de 2-componentes QseBC em Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium foi aberta uma nova perspectiva para desvendar os mecanismos de patogenicidade. Dentre estes, uma nova proteína VisP (Virulence and stress-related Periplasmic protein) foi reportada. Seu papel inicial na interação com a enzima LpxO em S. Typhimurium foi anteriormente demonstrada. O antígeno-O da camada de LPS fornece proteção contra as defesas do hospedeiro e, particularmente, o comprimento de sua cadeia exerce um papel essencial. A montagem do antígeno-O possui o sistema Wzz, o qual determina o comprimento final de sua cadeia polissacarídica, e também apresenta uma distribuição tri-modal. Forma cadeias curtas (S-OAg), longas (L-OAg) e muito longas (VL-OAg) de antígeno-O. As proteínas WzzST e WzzfepE regulam, respectivamente, a síntese das cadeias L-OAg e VL-OAg. Neste estudo, os genes wzzST, wzzfepE, visP e lpxO foram mutados, via mutagênese λ Red, obtendo simples e duplos mutantes. Dados preliminares evidenciaram que há um aumento nas cadeias VL-OAg e L-OAg no mutante ΔvisP, e reciprocamente há diminuição de L-OAg em ΔlpxO. Foram feitos ensaios para avaliar a motilidade, invasão em células epiteliais e sobrevivência intracelular em macrófagos com as amostras obtidas pelos ensaios de mutagênese. Foi evidenciado uma redução de 1,2 e 1,0 ordem de magnitude nos processos de invasão e sobrevivência intracelular, respectivamente, no mutante ΔvisP em relação à amostra selvagem, conforme já descrito, e também uma redução de 70,61% na motilidade comparada com à amostra selvagem. Observou-se que a deleção dos genes wzzfepE e lpxO no mutante ΔvisP faz com que a bactéria retorne ao fenótipo da amostra selvagem nos processos de motilidade, invasão em células epiteliais e sobrevivência intracelular em macrófagos. Este efeito de complementação fenotípica não ocorre no mutante duplo ΔwzzST, apresentando os mesmos níveis do mutante simples ΔvisP, apesar deste possuir um aumento na expressão de genes envolvidos na motilidade e invasão celular comparado com o mutante ΔvisP. Aparentemente, há a atenuação destes processos patogênicos em bactérias com um alto nível de VL-OAg, levando-nos a hipotetizar que este tipo de cadeia de antígeno-O possui relevância na patogênese de S. Typhimurium. WzzfepE e LpxO apresentaram uma evidente participação nos processos de motilidade, invasão celular e sobrevivência intracelular via VisP, e possivelmente o antígeno-O de comprimento muito longo (VL-Oag) apresenta um papel de inibição nestes processos, além disso, evidenciou-se que VisP desempenha uma função relevante na montagem das cadeias de antígeno-O e na patogênese de S. Typhimurium. / Chemical signaling is a mechanism employed by several bacterial species to interact within surrounding microbiota and their host. Upon this interaction the pathogenic bacteria regulate their virulence traits. The two-component system QseBC was described on chemical signaling in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, and a novel branch of pathogenic cascade regulation was revealed. Among these mechanisms a novel protein was described, VisP (Virulence and stress related Periplasmic protein). VisP interacts with LpxO enzyme on the periplasm. The O-antigen of the LPS layer provides protection against host defenses, and particularly its chain’s length plays an essential role. The O-antigen assembly has the Wzz system, which determines the O-antigen final chain length, and also presents a tri-modal distribution. It forms short (S-OAg), long (L-OAg) and very-long (VL-OAg) O-antigen chains. The WzzST and WzzfepE proteins respectively regulate the L-OAg and VL-OAg synthesis. In this study, wzzST, wzzfepE, visP and lpxO genes were mutated via λ Red mutagenesis, obtaining single and double-mutants. Our preliminary data have shown that VisP increases VL-OAg and L-OAg, conversely LpxO diminishes L-OAg chain length. The motility, epithelial cell invasion and macrophage intracellular survival and replication were assessed with the mutants obtained. The ΔvisP presented 1,2 and 1,0 order of magnitude reduction in cell invasion and intracellular macrophage replication, respectively, comparing with WT S. Typhimurium, as described, and 70,61% less motility rate than WT. Mutating wzzfepE or lpxO genes in ΔvisP recovers the motility, epithelial cell invasion and macrophage intracellular survival and replication WT phenotypes. Nonetheless, this effect does not occur with wzzST gene deletion in ΔvisP, as this double-mutant presents the same phenotypes of ΔvisP single-mutant, although this deletion raises expression rates of motility and cell invasion related genes significantly. Apparently, these pathogenic processes are attenuated within samples with VL-Oag high levels, taking us to hypothesize that there is a correlation between this O-antigen chain length and S. Typhimurium pathogenesis. WzzfepE and LpxO presented an important role on motility, epithelial cells invasion and macrophage intracellular survival through VisP, and probably the VL-OAg inhibits these processes. Furthermore, VisP plays a relevant function on O-antigen chain assembly and pathogenesis of S. Typhimurium. / CNPq: 134434/2014-5

Uma característica associada à capacidade de Pseudomonas aeruginosa sobreviver e disseminar-se frente a situações adversas encontradas no ambiente e no organismo de hospedeiros é a regulação de genes de resposta a condições de estresse celular, que incluem o evento de choque térmico. A exposição do microrganismo a um ambiente de alta temperatura resulta na indução da síntese de proteínas específicas, representadas por chaperonas e proteases, que conferem um aumento da viabilidade celular microbiana em condições consideradas letais. Presume- se que o gene PA 0657 de P. aeruginosa O1 possa estar associado à indução ou supressão do processo transcricional de genes envolvidos na resposta ao choque térmico. Neste contexto, o objetivo deste trabalho foi caracterizar a função do gene PA0657 de P. aeruginosa O1. Para isso, análises bioinformáticas foram realizadas e o gene foi clonado e expresso em sistema bacteriano, produzindo uma proteína recombinante que foi purificada e caracterizada enzimaticamente. Além disso, uma linhagem de P. aeruginosa O1 com o gene PA0657 rompido por recombinação homóloga foi construída, sendo submetida, juntamente com a linhagem selvagem, a uma condição de estresse térmico, permitindo que a expressão de diversos genes associados ao evento de choque térmico pudessem ser avaliadas por qRT-PCR. Os resultados mostraram que a proteína recombinante PA0657 foi capaz de degradar adenosina trifosfato (ATP), dependente do íon Zn2+. Foi possível verificar também que a linhagem rompida perdeu a capacidade de produzir o pigmento piocianina quando crescida em meio cetrimida e não apresentou seu fenótipo mucóide. Em análise in silico observou-se que a região promotora do gene PA0657 é dependente de σ32 e a análise de expressão gênica evidenciou uma diminuição de expressão do gene rpoH na linhagem selvagem de PAO1 após choque térmico, sendo este gene significativamente expresso na linhagem rompida. Observou-se também um acentuado aumento na expressão do gene algU, nestas mesmas condições, na linhagem selvagem PAO1, com ausência de expressão na linhagem rompida. É possível concluir, dessa forma, que o gene PA0657 exerce participação importante no processo de regulação de resposta ao choque térmico e está relacionado com a conversão do fenótipo mucóide. / Submitted by Ana Guimarães Pereira (agpereir@ucs.br) on 2015-02-12T16:39:42Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Franciele Maria Zanol.pdf: 2049257 bytes, checksum: 659cf19a6ee79184c9f91b239ba09a19 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-02-12T16:39:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Franciele Maria Zanol.pdf: 2049257 bytes, checksum: 659cf19a6ee79184c9f91b239ba09a19 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, CAPES / A feature associated with the ability of Pseudomonas aeruginosa survive and dissemination in adverse conditions found in the environment and in hosts‘ organisms is a specific genes regulation of stress response, including heat shock event. The exposure of microorganisms to a high temperature environment results in the induction of synthesis os specific proteins, represent by chaperones and proteases, conferring an increase og the microbial cell viability under conditions considered lethal. . It is presumed that the PA0657 gene of P. aeruginosa O1 can be related to the induction or suppression of transcriptional process of genes that are involved in a response to heat shock. In this context, the aim of this work was to characterize the function of the PA0657 gene of P. aeruginosa O1. In this way, bioinformatic analyzes were performed and the gene was cloned and expressed in bacterial system, producing recombinant protein which was purified and enzymatically characterized. Moreover, the PA0657 gene of P. aeruginosa O1 strain was disrupted by homologous recombination. The wild type strain and the disrupted strain were submitted to a thermal stress and the expression of various genes associated with heat shock event could be evaluated by qRT -PCR. The results showed that the PA0657 recombinant protein was capable of degrading adenosine triphosphate (ATP) of Zn2+ dependent manner. It was also verified that the ruptured strain lost its ability to produce pyocyanin pigment when grown on cetrimide means and its mucoid phenotype. It was possible to find in computational analysis that the promoter region of the PA0657 gene is dependent on σ32. The gene expression analysis showed a decrease in expression of the rpoH gene in the wild type strain after heat shock, this gene is significantly expressed in the disrupted strain. A significant increase in expression of the algU gene was observed, on the wild type strain with absence of expression in the disrupted strain. Therefore, it was possible to conclude that the PA0657 gene cts in the regulatory process of thermal shock response and is related to the conversion of the mucoid phenotype.

Uma característica associada à capacidade de Pseudomonas aeruginosa sobreviver e disseminar-se frente a situações adversas encontradas no ambiente e no organismo de hospedeiros é a regulação de genes de resposta a condições de estresse celular, que incluem o evento de choque térmico. A exposição do microrganismo a um ambiente de alta temperatura resulta na indução da síntese de proteínas específicas, representadas por chaperonas e proteases, que conferem um aumento da viabilidade celular microbiana em condições consideradas letais. Presume- se que o gene PA 0657 de P. aeruginosa O1 possa estar associado à indução ou supressão do processo transcricional de genes envolvidos na resposta ao choque térmico. Neste contexto, o objetivo deste trabalho foi caracterizar a função do gene PA0657 de P. aeruginosa O1. Para isso, análises bioinformáticas foram realizadas e o gene foi clonado e expresso em sistema bacteriano, produzindo uma proteína recombinante que foi purificada e caracterizada enzimaticamente. Além disso, uma linhagem de P. aeruginosa O1 com o gene PA0657 rompido por recombinação homóloga foi construída, sendo submetida, juntamente com a linhagem selvagem, a uma condição de estresse térmico, permitindo que a expressão de diversos genes associados ao evento de choque térmico pudessem ser avaliadas por qRT-PCR. Os resultados mostraram que a proteína recombinante PA0657 foi capaz de degradar adenosina trifosfato (ATP), dependente do íon Zn2+. Foi possível verificar também que a linhagem rompida perdeu a capacidade de produzir o pigmento piocianina quando crescida em meio cetrimida e não apresentou seu fenótipo mucóide. Em análise in silico observou-se que a região promotora do gene PA0657 é dependente de σ32 e a análise de expressão gênica evidenciou uma diminuição de expressão do gene rpoH na linhagem selvagem de PAO1 após choque térmico, sendo este gene significativamente expresso na linhagem rompida. Observou-se também um acentuado aumento na expressão do gene algU, nestas mesmas condições, na linhagem selvagem PAO1, com ausência de expressão na linhagem rompida. É possível concluir, dessa forma, que o gene PA0657 exerce participação importante no processo de regulação de resposta ao choque térmico e está relacionado com a conversão do fenótipo mucóide. / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, CAPES / A feature associated with the ability of Pseudomonas aeruginosa survive and dissemination in adverse conditions found in the environment and in hosts‘ organisms is a specific genes regulation of stress response, including heat shock event. The exposure of microorganisms to a high temperature environment results in the induction of synthesis os specific proteins, represent by chaperones and proteases, conferring an increase og the microbial cell viability under conditions considered lethal. . It is presumed that the PA0657 gene of P. aeruginosa O1 can be related to the induction or suppression of transcriptional process of genes that are involved in a response to heat shock. In this context, the aim of this work was to characterize the function of the PA0657 gene of P. aeruginosa O1. In this way, bioinformatic analyzes were performed and the gene was cloned and expressed in bacterial system, producing recombinant protein which was purified and enzymatically characterized. Moreover, the PA0657 gene of P. aeruginosa O1 strain was disrupted by homologous recombination. The wild type strain and the disrupted strain were submitted to a thermal stress and the expression of various genes associated with heat shock event could be evaluated by qRT -PCR. The results showed that the PA0657 recombinant protein was capable of degrading adenosine triphosphate (ATP) of Zn2+ dependent manner. It was also verified that the ruptured strain lost its ability to produce pyocyanin pigment when grown on cetrimide means and its mucoid phenotype. It was possible to find in computational analysis that the promoter region of the PA0657 gene is dependent on σ32. The gene expression analysis showed a decrease in expression of the rpoH gene in the wild type strain after heat shock, this gene is significantly expressed in the disrupted strain. A significant increase in expression of the algU gene was observed, on the wild type strain with absence of expression in the disrupted strain. Therefore, it was possible to conclude that the PA0657 gene cts in the regulatory process of thermal shock response and is related to the conversion of the mucoid phenotype.

Orientadores: Angelica Zaninelli Schreiber, Plinio Trabasso / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Ciencias Medicas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-08T13:17:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Nowakonski_AngelaVon_M.pdf: 1399484 bytes, checksum: ee465090318f9325ffdc02d5497ae055 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Resumo: Bacteriemias são ocorrências relacionadas a diferentes processos patológicos e em grande parte associadas a infecções hospitalares. Podem ser causadas por diferentes tipos de microrganismos, sendo os Gram negativos, em especial, os bacilos, responsáveis por grande número destas. O diagnóstico laboratorial envolve coleta de hemoculturas, isolamento e identificação do agente e avaliação de sua sensibilidade aos antimicrobianos. Com o aumento da sobrevida de pacientes com doenças de base muito graves e o uso indiscriminado de antimicrobianos de amplo espectro, são crescentes os relatos de desenvolvimento de resistência dos microrganismos aos antimicrobianos em uso. Trata-se este de estudo retrospectivo que buscou avaliar a prevalência e o perfil de resistência dos principais bacilos Gram negativos isolados a partir de hemoculturas de pacientes adultos, internados no HC-UNICAMP frente a antimicrobianos selecionados e correlação da tendência da resistência aos antimicrobianos com a estimativa de utilização destes antibióticos durante o período de 2000 a 2004. Neste período, os bacilos Gram negativos mais prevalentes foram Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter cloacae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa e Acinetobacter baumanii. Foi possível observar ao longo do período estudado uma alteração no perfil de freqüência dos bacilos Gram negativos encontrados nas hemoculturas, havendo permuta de Enterobacter cloacae por cepas de Klebsiella pneumoniae ao longo do tempo. O consumo aumentado de cefalosporinas de terceira e quarta geração no HC-UNICAMP pôde ser correlacionado de forma significativa a uma maior taxa de resistência de Klebsiella pneumoniae resistente. O aumento no consumo de quinolonas pôde ser correlacionado de forma significativa com aumento de resistência dos bacilos Gram negativos até o ano de 2002, excetuando a Klebsiella pneumoniae que manteve os níveis de resistência até 2004 / Abstract: Bacteriemias are events related to different diseases, mostly hospital infections. They can be caused by many different microorganisms, but the Gram negative bacilli are often responsible for them. The laboratory diagnosis includes blood sampling, isolation and identification of the microorganism, and evaluation of its susceptibility to the available antibiotics. Increases in prevalence of these resistant pathogens in hospitals are frequently related to high selective pressure commonly used in hospitalized patients, almost always represented by older and debilitated individuals. This is a retrospective study of the prevalence and resistance of pathogens isolated from the blood of patients in the Hospital das Clínicas UNICAMP, during the years 2000-2004, and the correlation of the intensive use of some proposed antibiotics. During this period the most commonly isolated microorganisms were: Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter cloacae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumanii. We observed an alteration of this profile during the study, having Klebsiella pneumoniae replaced the Enterobacter cloacae 's score. The increasing utilization of broad expect rum cephalosporin's in HC UNICAMP was related to the highest resistance of Klebsiella pneumoniae to these drugs. The ever increasing use of quinolones could be related in a very considerable way to the increasing resistance of all Gram negative bacilli until the year of 2002, when it declined but not for Klebsiella pneumoniae which was prolonged during all the time of the study / Mestrado / Patologia Clinica / Mestre em Ciências Médicas

Durante uma infecção, uma complexa seqüência de eventos é inkiada após a invasão do hospedeiro por microrganismos patogênicos. Escherichia coli enteroinvasora (EIEC), assim como Shigella, causa disenteria através da invasão da mucosa do cólon, levando à destruição tecidual e inflamação. Para que ocorra um processo infeccioso, porém, são necessários inóculos de 102 Shigella e 106 EIEC. Foram avaliados aspectos da resposta inflamatória desencadeada pela infecção por EIEC em modelo murino, comparativamente a Shigella. A infecção de macrófagos J774 por EIEC resultou em fagocitose bacteriana, comprometimento da viabilidade do macrófago e produção de citocinas. Macrófagos de camundongos C57BU6 infectados com EIEC produziram NO, que parece ser importante no controle da infecção. Foi observado que camundongos INOS nocaute apresentaram maior produção de citocinas pró-inflamatórias e maior letalidade após infecção do que os selvagens. EIEC induziu a migração de granulócitos e monócitos para o peritônio, e a secreção de citocinas por estas células. Houve proliferação de linfócitos em resposta aos antígenos solúveis de EIEC, mas não foi detectada produção de citocinas por estes linfócitos.Comparativamente a Shigella, EIEC escapou mais lentamente do macrófago, induziu menor produção de citocinas pró-inflamatórias e NO, e menor ativação dos linfócitos T. Estes dados sugerem o desafio com EIEC desencadeia uma resposta menos severa no hospedeiro do que Shigella, o que explicaria a forma mais branda de disenteria e resolução mais rápida do processo infeccioso causado por EIEC. / During an infection, a complex sequence of events in iniciated after invasion of the host by pathogenic microorganisms. Enteroinvasive Escherichia coli (EIEC) and Shigella cause dysentery by means of invading the colonic mucosa, leading to tissue destruction and inflammation. In arder for an infectious process to occur, inocula of 102 Shigella are necessary incontrast to e 106 EIEC. The infection of J774 macrophages by EIEC resulted in phagocytosis of the bacterium, a hindering of the viability of the macrophage and in the production of cytokines. Macrophages obtained from C57BU6 mice infected with EIEC produced NO, which seems to be important for the control if infection. We observed that in iNOS knockout mice, both the production of proinflammatory cytokines and lethality were higher than that observed in wild-type mice. EIEC induced the migration of granulocytes and monocytes to the peritoneum as well as the secretion of cytokines by these cells. We observed a proliferation of Iymphocytes in response to inoculation with soluble EIEC antigens, however, in this case, the production of cytokines was not detected. Compared to Shigella, EIEC was slower in escaping from the macrophage, and induced a shyer production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and NO, as well as promoted a smaller activation of T Iymphocytes. These data suggest that when challenged with EIEC, the host produces a less severe response than that elicited by Shigella, which might explain why the infectious process with EIEC produces a milder form of dysentery with a quicker resolution.

Antimicrobial resistance is a worldwide problem that has deleterious long-term effects as the development of drug resistance outpaces the development of new drugs. Plants have been used for many generations for healing purposes, and screening of extracts of these plants has often yielded positive outcomes. This study was aimed at isolating and characterizing the major active antimicrobial compounds present in the stem bark of C. molle, in a bid to identify potential sources of cheap starting materials for the synthesis of new drugs. Various solvents (hexane, ethyl acetate, dichloromethane, acetone, ethanol and methanol) were used for extraction. The agar well diffusion technique was used to screen for antimicrobial activity of C. molle extracts against Streptococcus pyogenes ATCC 49399, Plesiomonas shigelloides ATCC 51903, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 15442, Helicobacter pylori ATCC 43526 and Helicobacter pylori 252C (clinical isolate); minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) of the most active extracts was determined by the broth dilution method. Fractionation of acetone extract was done by thin layer chromatography (TLC) and bioautography to determine the compounds present and their antimicrobial activity respectively. The acetone extract was purified by column chromatography and their MIC determined. The most potent fraction (EA4) was subjected to Gas chromatography- Mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for identification of the active compounds. Results were analyzed by the Fisher‟s exact test. All the extracts tested demonstrated antimicrobial activity with zone diameters of inhibition ranging from 0–32 mm. Acetone was the most potent extract with its MIC ranging from 0.078–5.0 mg/mL. Seventeen fractions were collected from column chromatography and the most active fraction against all the organisms was EA 4 (eluted with 100 percent ethyl acetate), with its MIC ranging from 0.078 - 2.5mg/mL. There was no statistically significant difference (P>0.05) in the potency of the xii four extracts (acetone, methanol, ethanol and ethyl acetate) and antibiotic (ciprofloxacin) on the different bacterial strains tested, likewise the crude extract and the fractions. No compound was detected by GC-MS whereas numerous peaks were identified by HPLC implying that the active compounds in this plant are non volatile. We could not identify the compounds thereby proposing further studies using Nuclear magnetic resonance to identify the compounds. The study revealed that the acetone extract of C. molle was the most active against all the test organisms and therefore justifies the use of this plant in traditional medicine.

Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The increasing emergence and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a serious threat to public health. Of particular concern are Gram-negative bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter baumannii, Klebsiella pneumoniae or Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Some of these strains are resistant to a large number of antibiotics and thus our treatment options are rapidly declining. In addition to the increasing number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, a major problem is that many of the antibiotics at our disposal are ineffective against Gram-negative bacteria. This is partly due to the properties of the outer membrane (OM) which prevents efficient uptake. The overarching goal of this thesis was to investigate how the OM of the Gram-negative bacterium E. coli could be weakened to improve the activity of antibiotics. In the first two papers of my thesis (paper I + II), I investigated the periplasmic chaperone network which consists of the two parallel pathways SurA and Skp/DegP. This network is essential for the integrity of the OM and strains lacking either SurA or Skp are defective in the assembly of the OM, which results in an increased sensitivity towards vancomycin and other antimicrobials. We identified a novel component of the periplasmic chaperone network, namely YfgM, and showed that it operates in the same network as Skp and SurA/DegP. In particular, we demonstrated that deletion of YfgM in strains with either a ΔsurA or Δskp background further compromised the integrity of the OM, as evidenced by an increased sensitivity towards vancomycin. In the remaining two papers of my thesis (paper III + IV), the goal was to characterize small molecules that permeabilize the OM and thus could be used to improve the activity of antibiotics. Towards this goal, we performed a high-throughput screen and identified an inhibitor of the periplasmic chaperone LolA, namely MAC-13243, and showed that it can be used to permeabilize the OM of E. coli (paper III). We further demonstrated that MAC-13243 can be used to potentiate the activity of antibiotics which are normally ineffective against E. coli. In the last paper of my thesis (paper IV), we undertook a more specific approach and wanted to identify an inhibitor against the glycosyltransferase WaaG. This enzyme is involved in the synthesis of LPS and genetic inactivation of WaaG results in a defect in the OM, which leads to an increased sensitivity to various antibiotics. In this paper, we identified a small molecular fragment (compound L1) and showed that it can be used to inhibit the activity of WaaG in vitro. To summarize, this thesis provides novel insights into how the OM of the Gram-negative bacterium E. coli can be weakened by using small molecules. We believe that the two identified small molecules represent important first steps towards the design of more potent inhibitors that could be used in clinics to enhance the activity of antibiotics. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 3: Manuscript.</p>