Retrospective multicentric study on Campylobacter spp. bacteremia in France: the Campylobacteremia study

International audienceAbstract Background Campylobacter spp. bacteremia is a severe infection. A nationwide 5-year retrospective study was conducted to characterize its clinical features and prognostic factors. Methods Patients diagnosed with Campylobacter spp. bacteremia in 37 French hospitals participating in the surveillance network of the National Reference Center for Campylobacter and Helicobacter were included from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2019. The goal was to analyze the effects of a delay of appropriate antibiotic therapy and other risk factors on 30-day mortality, antibiotic resistance, patient characteristics and prognosis according to the Campylobacter species. Findings Among the 592 patients, Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter fetus were the most commonly identified species (42.9 and 42.6%, respectively). The patients were elderly (median age 68 years), and most had underlying conditions, mainly immunodepression (43.4%), hematologic malignancies (25.9%), solid neoplasms (23%) and diabetes (22.3%). C. jejuni and Campylobacter coli were associated with gastrointestinal signs, and C. fetus was associated with secondary localizations. Among the 80 patients (13.5%) with secondary localizations, 12 had endocarditis, 38 vascular, 24 osteo-articular and 9 ascitic fluid infections. The thirty-day mortality rate was 11.7%, and an appropriate antibiotic treatment was independently associated with 30-day survival (odds ratio [OR]=0.47, 95% CI [0.24–0.93], p=0.03). The median efficient therapy initiation delay was quite short (2 days, IQR [0–4]) but it had no significant impact on 30-day mortality (p=0.78). Interpretation Campylobacter spp. bacteremia mainly occurred in elderly immunocompromised individuals with variable clinical presentations according to the species involved. Appropriate antimicrobial therapy was associated with improved 30-day survival

Multicenter Retrospective Study of Vascular Infections and Endocarditis Caused by Campylobacter spp., France

The incidence of campylobacteriosis has substantially increased over the past decade, notably in France. Secondary localizations complicating invasive infections are poorly described. We aimed to describe vascular infection or endocarditis caused by Campylobacter spp. We included 57 patients from a nationwide 5-year retrospective study on Campylobacter spp. bacteremia conducted in France; 44 patients had vascular infections, 12 had endocarditis, and 1 had both conditions. Campylobacter fetus was the most frequently involved species (83%). Antibiotic treatment involved a β-lactam monotherapy (54%) or was combined with a fluoroquinolone or an aminoglycoside (44%). The mortality rate was 25%. Relapse occurred in 8% of cases and was associated with delayed initiation of an efficient antimicrobial therapy after the first symptoms, diabetes, and coexistence of an osteoarticular location. Cardiovascular Campylobacter spp. infections are associated with a high mortality rate. Systematically searching for those localizations in cases of C. fetus bacteremia may be warranted

Suppression of cellular proliferation and invasion by the concerted lipid and protein phosphatase activities of PTEN

PTEN is a tumour suppressor with phosphatase activity in vitro against both lipids and proteins and other potential non-enzymatic mechanisms of action. Although the importance of PTEN’s lipid phosphatase activity in regulating the PI3K signalling pathway is recognised, the significance of PTEN’s other mechanisms of action is currently unclear. Here, we describe the systematic identification of a PTEN mutant, PTEN Y138L, with activity against lipid, but not soluble substrates. Using this mutant we provide evidence for the interfacial activation of PTEN against lipid substrates. We also show that when re-expressed at physiological levels in PTEN null U87MG glioblastoma cells the protein phosphatase activity of PTEN is not required to regulate cellular PtdInsP(3) levels or the downstream protein kinase Akt/PKB. Finally, in 3D Matrigel cultures of U87MG cells similarly re-expressing PTEN mutants, both the protein and lipid phosphatase activities were required to inhibit invasion, but either activity alone significantly inhibited proliferation, albeit only weakly for the protein phosphatase activity. Our data provides a novel tool to address the significance of PTEN’s separable lipid and protein phosphatase activities and suggest that both activities act to suppress proliferation and act together to suppress invasion