Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / The subject of this investigation was the staphylococcal substance which we now call enterotoxin and which we know to be responsible for staphylococcal food poisoning in man. The immunological response of animals to this substance, as well as the exceptional heat resistance of the enterotoxin, indicates that it is indeed quite different from other known bacterial exotoxins. It was hoped that this study of some of the physical and chemical properties of the enterotoxin would help to explain those differences and also yield information about the chemical nature of the toxin itself. [TRUNCATED]

Submitted by Biblioteca da Faculdade de Farmácia (bff@ndc.uff.br) on 2017-04-10T17:58:31Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Marques, Leila Márcia Peres [Dissertação, 2014].pdf: 1219156 bytes, checksum: dbca893aaf472356f21637055bd0d192 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-10T17:58:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marques, Leila Márcia Peres [Dissertação, 2014].pdf: 1219156 bytes, checksum: dbca893aaf472356f21637055bd0d192 (MD5) / O presente trabalho tem por objetivo caracterizar fenotípica e genotipicamente cepas de S. aureus isoladas de queijo Minas frescal (QMF), quanto a qualidade microbiológica, perfil de resistência a diferentes antimicrobianos, presença do gene de resistência a meticilina (mecA), presença de genes que codificam para enterotoxinas estafilocócicas (SE) clássicas; e para cepas resistentes a meticilina, pesquisa dos genes que codificam para a citotoxina Panton Valentine Leukocidin (PVL) e o perfil de diversidade genética, através da tipificação dos tipos SCCmec, Eletroforese em gel de campo pulsado (PFGE) e do sequenciamento da proteína estafilococócica A (SpA). Estafilococos coagulase-positivos (CoPS) foram isolados a partir de 4 amostras (13,3%) de QMF, sendo que 3 (10%) amostras estavam impróprias para consumo segundo a legislação (acima de 5,0.10² UFC/g). As 31 cepas de CoPS isoladas apresentaram a sequência gênica 16S rRNA e o gene nuc, sendo confirmadas como S. aureus. As 31 cepas S. aureus apresentaram resistência a penicilina, 21 (67,74%) a eritromicina, 12 (38,71 %) a ciprofloxacina, 4 (12,9%) a clindamicina, 4 (12,9%) a oxacilina e cefoxitina, 2 (6,45%) a rifampicina, 1 (3,23%) ao cloranfenicol e a tetraciclina. Todas as 31 cepas foram sensíveis ao trimetoprim-sulfametoxazole, gentamicina e a linezolida. Sete cepas (22,58%) carreavam o gene mecA, destas, 4 apresentaram fenótipo de resistência a meticilina, sendo classificadas como S. aureus resistentes a meticilina (MRSA), sendo todos sensíveis a vancomicina e com resistência constitutiva a clindamicina. Cinco cepas (16,1%) apresentaram resistência induzida a clindamicina. Os genes que codificam para as SE clássicas (sea/seb e seb/sec) foram encontrados em 2 isolados (6,45%) MRSA. Através da PFGE e da tipificação SpA, as cepas MRSA isoladas, apresentaram 3 diferentes perfis genotípicos. Essas cepas MRSA não apresentaram os tipos SCCmec I a V, nem os genes que codificam para PVL. Os resultados obtidos neste trabalho indicam que cepas MRSA estão sendo veiculadas através do QMF, provavelmente por manipulação humana inadequada e/ou condições higiênico-sanitárias precárias. O potencial enterotoxigênico destas bactérias indica que o QMF pode causar intoxicação alimentar, sendo um risco para a saúde pública / This study aimed to characterize genotypic and phenotypically S. aureus strains isolated from Minas frescal cheese (MFC) to evaluate the microbiological quality, resistance profile to diferent antimicrobials, the presence of methicillin resistance (mecA) gene and the presence of genes encoding classical staphylococcal enterotoxins (SE). Only for methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strains were performed the gene encoding Panton Valentine Leukocidin cytotoxin (PVL) and the genetic diversity profile through Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), typing of SCCmec and SpA typing. Coagulase-positive staphylococci (CoPS) were identified in four MFC samples (13.3%), and three (10%) samples showed the number of colony forming units (CFU) higher than allowed to MFC by Brazilian legislation (5,0x10² UFC/g). All the 31 CoPS strains carried the gene sequence 16S rRNA and nuc gene, and were confirmed as S. aureus. All 31 strains of S. aureus were resistant to penicillin, 21 (67.74%) to erythromycin, 12 (38.71%) to ciprofloxacin, 4 (12.9%) to clindamycin, 4 (12.9%) to oxacillin and cefoxitin, 2 (6.45%) to rifampicin, 1 (3.23%) to chloramphenicol and tetracycline. All the 31 CoPS strains were susceptible to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, gentamicin and linezolid. Seven strains (22.58%) encoded mecA gene, four of them showed the methicillin resistance phenotypic, been classified as methycilin resistant S. aureus (MRSA). All MRSA isolates were susceptible to vancomycin and showed constitutive clindamycin resistance. Five strains (16.1%) showed induced clindamycin resistance. The gene encoding the classical SE (sea/seb and seb/sec) were detected in two isolates (6.45%) MRSA. Genetic analysis of MRSA strains was performed by PFGE and SpA typing showed three different profiles. The strains that showed mecA gene, did not show PVL genes coding, neither the types of SCCmec typing. The results obtained in this study showed that MRSA strains are being transmitted by MFC samples, probably due to inadequate human manipulation and/or poor and inefficient hygienic-sanitary conditions. The enterotoxigenic potential of these strains is a concern for public health due to the risk of food poisoning among the MFC consumers

Du fait de leurs propriétés immunostimulantes, les entérotoxines de Staphylococcus aureus (SEs) sont aussi considérées comme des outils thérapeutiques anticancéreux potentiels. Cependant, leurs implications dans de nombreuses pathologies humaines limitent leurs utilisations. Récemment, un opéron dénommé enterotoxin gene cluster (egc) codant pour cinq entérotoxines (SEG, SEI, SElM, SElN et SElO) supposées être de moindre virulence pour l’organisme, a été mis en évidence. En 2004, des patients atteints de carcinome broncho-pulmonaire ont été traités par l’administration d’un surnageant de culture d’une souche de S. aureus, contenant l’opéron egc. Ce traitement a permis d’allonger la durée de survie, et n’a eu aucun effet secondaire. Dans ce cadre, l’objectif de cette thèse a été d’étudier l’activité anti-tumorale des toxines de l’egc. Nos travaux ont mis en évidence l’activité tumoricide de ces toxines, induite par l’activation du système immunitaire. Cette toxicité est médiée par la sécrétion de nombreux médiateurs solubles comme le TNF-α et le NO. Nous avons confirmé le caractère pro-inflammatoire de type Th1 des toxines de l’egc. Nos travaux ont également montré qu’hormis SEI, les toxines de l’egc induisent des sécrétions de cytokines, chimiokines, protéases matricielles (MMPs) et facteurs de croissances nettement inférieures à celle induites par le reste des SEs. Ces résultats pourraient expliquer la faible toxicité associée aux toxines de l’egc. Enfin, nous avons montré que SElO possèdent une toxicité intrinsèque vis-à-vis des lignées tumorales. Cette étude plaide en faveur de l'intérêt des toxines de l’egc dans le développement de nouvelles approches en thérapie anti-tumorale / The use of classical superantigens (e.g. SEA, SEB and SEC) for treatment of cancer has resulted in a low response rates due to serious toxicity in humans. However, in a recent clinical study, remarkable results in treating lung cancer were obtained using superantigens encoded by the enterotoxin gene cluster (egc) without causing any significant toxicity. The current study was performed to investigate how egc superantigens (i.e. SEG, SEI, SElM, SElN and SElO) have tumoricidal activity with low toxicity. Indeed, we first demonstrated that tumoricidal activity of egc-SEs is mediated by immune cell activation, in particular, by secretion of soluble mediators such as nitric oxide and TNF-α. Thus, the proteomic analysis of the PBMC supernatants, showed that SEs-egc enhance the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, chimokines and many other biomarkers. Interestingly, levels were significantly higher in supernatants of SEA-stimulated PBMC than those with egc superantigens suggesting that staphylococcal superantigens differs in their inflammatory proprerties. Our results suggest that the relative lower pro-inflammatory activity of egc toxins may explain the low toxicity of these toxins observed during the clinical trial. Finally, we showed that SElO have a direct cytostatic activity against tumor cells. These findings suggest that egc-SEs seems to be good candidates for the development of new drugs in cancer therapy