NRAMP1 gene polymorphisms and cutaneous leishmaniasis: An evaluation on host susceptibility and treatment outcome

Background & objectives: Association between polymorphisms in the natural resistance associated macrophage protein 1 (NRAMP1) gene and susceptibility to cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) has been demonstrated worldwide; however, the reported results were inconsistent. This study aimed to determine the association of NRAMP1 variants with susceptibility to CL infection and patients� response to treatment in Isfahan province of Iran. Methods: Peripheral blood samples were collected from 150 patients with CL and 136 healthy controls. The CL patients were treated with intralesional injection of meglumine antimoniate. The polymorphic variants at NRAMP1 (A318V and D543N) were analyzed using PCR-RFLP. The chi-square test and Fisher�s exact test were used to compare frequencies of alleles and genotypes of polymorphisms between patient and healthy control populations. Results: There was a statistically significant difference in the D543N (rs17235409) polymorphism between the CL patients and healthy controls (p=0.008). However, no significant association was detected for A318V (rs201565523) polymorphism between groups (p=0.26). In addition, there was a lack of association between D543N and A318V genotypes with response to treatment (p=0.54 and p=0.31, respectively). Interpretation & conclusion: The results indicated that genetic variations of D543N (rs17235409) might be associated with susceptibility to CL infection. These data may be used for detection of sensitive individuals and prevention of CL in endemic areas. © 2016, Malaria Research Center. All rights reserved

Characteristics of multiresistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from burn patients in Iran

Infections caused by multidrug resistant (MDR) Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates in burn patients restrict therapeutic strategies. The current study aimed to analyze antibiotic resistance genes and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) of P. aeruginosa strains isolated from burn patients in Shahid Motahari hospital in Tehran, Iran. Altogether 63 P. aeruginosa isolates were characterized in this study. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed by disc diffusion method. PCR was performed to determine the frequency of resistance genes. The expression rates of mexB, mexY genes were evaluated by Real-Time PCR. Genotyping of isolates was performed by MLST analysis. All isolates were MDR in this study. The highest resistance was detected against gentamicin, tobramycin, and cefoxitin (100%), while all isolates were susceptible to colistin. Altogether 14 resistance profiles were determined, and profile 1 included more than 50% of the isolates with the highest resistance. In this study blaampC, blaVIM-2, blaOXA-10, and aac(60)-Ib resistance genes were detected in all isolates. The expression levels of mexB and mexY genes were upregulated in 66.6 and 88.8% of MDR isolates, respectively. Overexpression of both genes was detected in 55.5% of the isolates. MLST analysis revealed five sequence types (STs), including ST235, ST664, ST532, ST2637, and ST230, which showed a significant relationship with antibiotic resistance profiles. The present study indicates an increase in antibiotic resistance against different antibiotic families among P. aeruginosa isolates. We describe the circulation of globally distributed STs among hospitalized patients, and we report ST235 as the most common MDR clone in our study

Investigation of Class I, II and III Integrons among Acinetobacter Strains Isolated from Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia Patients in Intensive Care Unit of Rasoul Akram Hospital in Tehran, Iran

Background: Multi-drug resistant strains of Acinetobacter spp. have created therapeutic problems worldwide. The objective of this study was to detect integrons  in Acinetobacter  spp. isolates  from Ventilator-Associated  Pneu- monia patients using PCR method. Methods: A total 51 Bronchoalveolar lavage samples were obtained from patients in ICU and examined for Acinetobacter spp. infection by biochemical and PCR methods using blaOXA51-like primers. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed using disk diffusion and MIC methods. Results: Among 51 patients with VAP (62.7% males, 35.2% females, mean age 53 year), 50 (98%) were positive, with a high prevalence of gram-nega- tive bacteria, mainly Acinetobacter spp. (70%), from which A. baumani was detected in 34 (68%) and A. lwoffii in 1 (2%) of isolates. More than 90% of isolates were resistant to imipenem,  piperacillin+tazobactam,  third genera- tion cephalosporins and gentamicin, while the most effective antibiotic was colistin (100%). The correlation coefficient between disk diffusion and MIC was 0.808 (p = 0.001). Three Acinetobacter isolates (8%) harbored integrase I gene but none of isolates contained Class II or III integrons. Conclusion: The results showed that colistin was an effective antibiotic and can be used for treatment  of patients in ICU. Due to the high number of MDR isolates lacking Integrons it can be concluded that although class I in- tegrons are important among clinical isolates of A. baumannii, they have no significant  role  in  dissemination  of  antibiotic  resistance  genes  in  Rasoul Akram  Hospital in Tehran, Iran. The presence of IntI in A. lwoffii may be related to transfer of integron to A. baumannii which can be considered as an important threat for hospitalized patients