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Epidemiologie, Mikrobiologie,... 2023The annual number of diagnosed diseases caused by non-tuberculous mycobacteria in predisposed individuals remains constant in the Czech Republic. Their clinical...
The annual number of diagnosed diseases caused by non-tuberculous mycobacteria in predisposed individuals remains constant in the Czech Republic. Their clinical characteristics vary depending on the properties of the causative species and its presence and quantity in the immediate environment of the patient. The most common clinically relevant species are Mycobacterium avium, M. kansasii, and M. xenopi. The most important source of M. avium is peat and products derived from it. M. avium may colonise warm water systems, posing a high risk of exposure to users (jacuzzi users in particular). M. kansasii is still present in waters of areas affected by industrial and mining activities. Its recently isolated genetic variants are mostly of no clinical significance but may be present as contaminants in medical preparations. M. xenopi permanently colonises most warm water systems, and its practical ubiquity makes difficult the interpretation of ambiguous findings on imaging. The antibiotic treatment, which may not always be successful, should be initiated after a comprehensive assessment of the patient's condition, imaging data, and disease progression. Similarly, the results of laboratory tests may not always be authoritative in decision making.
Topics: Humans; Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous; Nontuberculous Mycobacteria; Czech Republic; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Water
PubMed: 37871989
DOI: No ID Found -
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy Nov 2023Rifampicin is recommended for the treatment of complex pulmonary disease alongside azithromycin and ethambutol. We evaluated the azithromycin-ethambutol backbone with...
Rifampicin is recommended for the treatment of complex pulmonary disease alongside azithromycin and ethambutol. We evaluated the azithromycin-ethambutol backbone with and without rifampicin in an intracellular hollow fiber model and performed RNA sequencing to study the differences in adaptation. In an hollow fiber experiment, we simulated epithelial lining fluid pharmacokinetic profiles of the recommended 3-drug (rifampicin, ethambutol, and azithromycin) or a 2-drug (ethambutol and azithromycin) treatment. THP-1 cells infected with ATCC700898 were exposed to these regimens for 21 days. We determined intra- and extra-cellular bacterial load- and THP-1 cell densities on days 0, 3, 7, 14, and 21, alongside RNA sequencing. The emergence of macrolide resistance was studied by inoculating intra- and extra-cellular fractions of azithromycin-containing Middlebrook 7H10 agar plates. Complete pharmacokinetic profiles were determined at days 0 and 21. Both therapies maintained stasis of both intra- and extra-cellular bacterial populations for 3 days, whilst regrowth coinciding with the emergence of a macrolide-resistant subpopulation was seen after 7 days. THP-1 cell density remained static. Similar transcriptional profiles were observed for both therapies that were minimally influenced by exposure duration. Transcriptional response was slightly larger during 2-drug treatment. Rifampicin did not add to the antimycobacterial effect to the 2-drug therapy or suppression of emergence resistance. RNA transcription was not greatly altered by the addition of rifampicin, which may be due to strong transcriptional influence of azithromycin and host cells. This questions the role of rifampicin in the currently recommended therapy. These findings should be confirmed in clinical trials.
Topics: Humans; Rifampin; Mycobacterium avium; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Ethambutol; Azithromycin; Macrolides; Drug Resistance, Bacterial; Mycobacterium avium Complex; Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare Infection; Lung Diseases
PubMed: 37877693
DOI: 10.1128/aac.00874-23 -
Microbiology Spectrum Dec 2023represents the most common rapidly growing mycobacterial pathogen in cystic fibrosis and is extremely difficult to eradicate. Essential genes are required for growth,...
represents the most common rapidly growing mycobacterial pathogen in cystic fibrosis and is extremely difficult to eradicate. Essential genes are required for growth, often participate in pathogenesis, and encode valid drug targets for further chemotherapeutic developments. However, assessing the function of essential genes in remains challenging due to the limited spectrum of efficient genetic tools. Herein, we generated a Tet-OFF-based system allowing to knock down the expression of , encoding the mycolic acid transporter in mycobacteria. Using this conditional mutant, we confirm the essentiality of in planktonic cultures, in biofilms, and during infection in zebrafish embryos. Thus, in this study, we developed a robust and reliable method to silence the expression of any gene during host infection.
Topics: Animals; Mycobacterium abscessus; Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous; Zebrafish; Mycobacterium; Gene Expression
PubMed: 37831478
DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.02836-23 -
Journal of Clinical Microbiology Oct 2023Macrolides, such as clarithromycin, are crucial in the treatment of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). NTM are notoriously innately drug resistant, which has made the...
Macrolides, such as clarithromycin, are crucial in the treatment of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). NTM are notoriously innately drug resistant, which has made the dependence on macrolides for their treatment even more important. Not surprisingly, resistance to macrolides has been documented in some NTM, including and , which are the two NTM species most often identified in clinical isolates. Resistance is mediated by point mutations in the 23S ribosomal RNA or by methylation of the rRNA by a methylase (encoded by an gene). Chromosomally encoded genes have been identified in many of the macrolide-resistant isolates, but not in . Now, Brown-Elliott et al. (J Clin Microbiol 61:e00428-23, 2023, https://doi.org/10.1128/JCM.00428-23) describe the identification of a new variant, (55) which was found either on the chromosome or on a plasmid in highly macrolide-resistant clinical isolates of . The chromosomal (55) gene appears to be associated with mobile elements; one gene is within a putative transposon and the second is in a large (37 kb) insertion/deletion. The plasmid carrying (55) also encodes type IV and type VII secretion systems, which are often linked on large mycobacterial plasmids and are hypothesized to mediate plasmid transfer. While the conjugative transfer of the (55)-containing plasmid between NTM has yet to be demonstrated, the inferences are clear, as evidenced by the dissemination of plasmid-mediated drug resistance in other medically important bacteria. Here, we discuss the findings of Brown-Elliott et al. and the potential ramifications on treatment of NTM infections.
Topics: Humans; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Mycobacterium chelonae; Macrolides; Drug Resistance, Bacterial; Clarithromycin; Mycobacterium; Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous; Nontuberculous Mycobacteria; Chromosomes
PubMed: 37724858
DOI: 10.1128/jcm.00628-23 -
Clinics in Chest Medicine Dec 2023Standard treatment of nontuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease (NTM-PD) infection involves a multi-drug antimicrobial regimen for at least 12 months. The length,... (Review)
Review
Standard treatment of nontuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease (NTM-PD) infection involves a multi-drug antimicrobial regimen for at least 12 months. The length, complexity, and side effect profile of antibiotic therapy for NTM-PD pose significant difficulties for maintaining patient adherence. Furthermore, physician adherence to NTM guidelines suffers for similar reasons to the extent that a study evaluating treatment approaches across multiple specialties found that only 13% of antibiotic regimens met ATS/IDSA guidelines. For this reason, a great need exists for therapy that augments the current armamentarium of antimicrobial chemotherapeutics or provides an alternative approach for decreasing host mycobacterial burden. As our knowledge of the mechanisms driving protective responses to NTM-PD infections by mammalian hosts expand, these processes provide novel therapeutic targets. These agents, which are commonly referred to as host-directed therapies (HDTs) have the potential of providing the much-needed boost to the nontuberculous mycobacterial therapeutic pipeline. In this review, we will focus on translational research and clinical trial data that detail the creation of therapeutic modalities developed to improve host mechanical protection and immunologic responses to PNTM infection.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous; Lung; Nontuberculous Mycobacteria; Lung Diseases; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Mammals
PubMed: 37890920
DOI: 10.1016/j.ccm.2023.07.004 -
Pulmonary Pharmacology & Therapeutics Dec 2023Longitudinal epidemiological and clinical data are needed to improve the management of patients with bronchiectasis developing nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM)...
RATIONALE
Longitudinal epidemiological and clinical data are needed to improve the management of patients with bronchiectasis developing nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) pulmonary disease.
OBJECTIVES
To describe the epidemiology, patient management, and treatment outcomes of NTM infections in patients with bronchiectasis enrolled in the United States Bronchiectasis and NTM Research Registry (US BRR).
METHODS
This was a retrospective cohort study of patients with bronchiectasis and NTM infections enrolled with follow-up in the US BRR in 2008-2019. The study included patients with ≥1 positive NTM respiratory culture in the 24-month baseline period (baseline NTM cohort) and/or during the annual follow-up visits (incident NTM cohort). Incidence, prevalence, baseline patient characteristics, treatment exposure, treatment outcomes, and respiratory clinical outcomes were described in the baseline NTM cohort, incident NTM cohort, and both cohorts combined (prevalent NTM cohort).
RESULTS
Between 2008 and 2019, 37.9% (1457/3840) of patients with bronchiectasis in the US BRR met the inclusion criteria for this study and were reported to have Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) and/or Mycobacterium abscessus complex (MABSC) infections. MAC prevalence increased steadily in the US BRR during 2009-2019; incidence was relatively stable, except for a peak in 2011 followed by a slow decrease. MABSC and mixed MAC/MABSC infections were rare. Most patients with bronchiectasis and NTM infections in the registry were female, White, and aged >65 years. The antibiotics administered most commonly reflected current guidelines. In the prevalent cohort, 44.9% of MAC infections and 37.1% of MABSC infections remained untreated during follow-up, and MAC treatment was initiated with delay (>90 days after positive NTM respiratory culture) twice as frequently as promptly (≤90 days after positive NTM respiratory culture) (68.6% vs 31.4%, respectively). The median time from diagnosis to treatment was shorter for MABSC versus MAC infections (194.0 days [interquartile range (IQR) 8.0, 380.0] vs 296.0 days [IQR 35.0, 705.0], respectively). Among patients with MAC infections who completed treatment, 27.6% were classified as cured and 29.6% as treatment failure during the annual follow-up visit window. For MABSC, these proportions were 25.0% and 28.0%, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS
A considerable proportion of MAC and MABSC infections were untreated or treated after initial delay/observation. MABSC infections were more likely to be treated and start treatment sooner than MAC infections. Further longitudinal studies are warranted to evaluate the monitor-with-delay approach and inform clinical guidelines.
Topics: Humans; Female; Male; Retrospective Studies; Cohort Studies; Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous; Nontuberculous Mycobacteria; Mycobacterium avium Complex; Bronchiectasis; Registries
PubMed: 37741357
DOI: 10.1016/j.pupt.2023.102260 -
PLoS Pathogens Aug 2023Mycobacterium abscessus causes severe disease in patients with cystic fibrosis. Little is known in M. abscessus about the roles of small regulatory RNAs (sRNA) in gene...
Mycobacterium abscessus causes severe disease in patients with cystic fibrosis. Little is known in M. abscessus about the roles of small regulatory RNAs (sRNA) in gene regulation. We show that the sRNA B11 controls gene expression and virulence-associated phenotypes in this pathogen. B11 deletion from the smooth strain ATCC_19977 produced a rough strain, increased pro-inflammatory signaling and virulence in multiple infection models, and increased resistance to antibiotics. Examination of clinical isolate cohorts identified isolates with B11 mutations or reduced expression. We used RNAseq and proteomics to investigate the effects of B11 on gene expression and test the impact of mutations found in clinical isolates. Over 200 genes were differentially expressed in the deletion mutant. Strains with the clinical B11 mutations showed expression trends similar to the deletion mutant, suggesting partial loss of function. Among genes upregulated in the B11 mutant, there was a strong enrichment for genes with B11-complementary sequences in their predicted ribosome binding sites (RBS), consistent with B11 functioning as a negative regulator that represses translation via base-pairing to RBSs. Comparing the proteomes similarly revealed that upregulated proteins were strongly enriched for B11-complementary sequences. Intriguingly, genes upregulated in the absence of B11 included components of the ESX-4 secretion system, critical for M. abscessus virulence. Many of these genes had B11-complementary sequences at their RBSs, which we show is sufficient to mediate repression by B11 through direct binding. Altogether, our data show that B11 acts as a direct negative regulator and mediates (likely indirect) positive regulation with pleiotropic effects on gene expression and clinically important phenotypes in M. abscessus. The presence of hypomorphic B11 mutations in clinical strains is consistent with the idea that lower B11 activity may be advantageous for M. abscessus in some clinical contexts. This is the first report on an sRNA role in M. abscessus.
Topics: Mycobacterium abscessus; Virulence; Anti-Bacterial Agents; RNA, Small Untranslated
PubMed: 37603560
DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1011575 -
The Journal of Biological Chemistry Aug 2023Mycobacterium abscessus causes severe lung infections. Clinical isolates can have either smooth (S) or rough (R) colony morphotypes; of these, S but not R variants have...
Mycobacterium abscessus causes severe lung infections. Clinical isolates can have either smooth (S) or rough (R) colony morphotypes; of these, S but not R variants have abundant cell wall glycopeptidolipids (GPL) consisting of a peptidolipid core substituted by a 6-deoxy-α-L-talose (6-dTal) and rhamnose residues. Deletion of gtf1, encoding the 6-dTal transferase, results in the S-to-R transition, mycobacterial cord formation, and increased virulence, underscoring the importance of 6-dTal in infection outcomes. However, since 6-dTal is di-O-acetylated, it is unclear whether the gtf1 mutant phenotypes are related to the loss of the 6-dTal or the result of the absence of acetylation. Here, we addressed whether M. abscessus atf1 and atf2, encoding two putative O-acetyltransferases located within the gpl biosynthetic locus, transfer acetyl groups to 6-dTal. We found deletion of atf1 and/or atf2 did not drastically alter the GPL acetylation profile, suggesting there are additional enzymes with redundant functions. We subsequently identified two paralogs of atf1 and atf2, MAB_1725c and MAB_3448. While deletion of MAB_1725c and MAB_3448 had no effect on GPL acetylation, the triple atf1-atf2-MAB_1725c mutant did not synthetize fully acetylated GPL, and the quadruple mutant was totally devoid of acetylated GPL. Moreover, both triple and quadruple mutants accumulated hyper-methylated GPL. Finally, we show deletion of atf genes resulted in subtle changes in colony morphology but had no effect on M. abscessus internalization by macrophages. Overall, these findings reveal the existence of functionally redundant O-acetyltransferases and suggest that O-acetylation influences the glycan moiety of GPL by deflecting biosynthetic flux in M. abscessus.
Topics: Humans; Acetyltransferases; Macrophages; Mycobacterium abscessus; Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous
PubMed: 37390990
DOI: 10.1016/j.jbc.2023.104979 -
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy Oct 2023Infections due to nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) continue to increase in prevalence, leading to problematic clinical outcomes. Omadacycline (OMC) is an...
Long-term evaluation of clinical success and safety of omadacycline in nontuberculous mycobacteria infections: a retrospective, multicenter cohort of real-world health outcomes.
Infections due to nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) continue to increase in prevalence, leading to problematic clinical outcomes. Omadacycline (OMC) is an aminomethylcycline antibiotic with FDA orphan drug and fast-track designations for pulmonary NTM infections, including (MAB). This multicenter retrospective study across 16 U.S. medical institutions from January 2020 to March 2023 examined the long-term clinical success, safety, and tolerability of OMC for NTM infections. The cohort included patients aged ≥18 yr, who were clinically evaluable, and` had been treated with OMC for ≥3 mo without a previous diagnosis of cystic fibrosis. The primary outcome was 3 mo clinical success, with secondary outcomes including clinical improvement and mortality at 6- and 12 mo, persistence or reemergence of infection, adverse effects, and reasons for OMC utilization. Seventy-five patients were included in this analysis. Most patients were female (48/75, 64.0%) or Caucasian (58/75, 77.3%), with a median (IQR) age of 59 yr (49-67). Most had NTM pulmonary disease (33/75, 44.0%), skin and soft tissue disease (19/75, 25.3%), or osteomyelitis (10/75, 13.3%), and (60/75, 80%) was the most commonly isolated NTM pathogen. The median (IQR) treatment duration was 6 mo (4 - 14), and the most commonly co-administered antibiotic was azithromycin (33/70, 47.1%). Three-month clinical success was observed in 80.0% (60/75) of patients, and AEs attributable to OMC occurred in 32.0% (24/75) of patients, leading to drug discontinuation in 9.3% (7/75).
Topics: Humans; Female; Male; Retrospective Studies; Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous; Nontuberculous Mycobacteria; Cystic Fibrosis; Mycobacterium abscessus; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Outcome Assessment, Health Care
PubMed: 37768312
DOI: 10.1128/aac.00824-23 -
Frontiers in Cellular and Infection... 2023This study aimed to investigate sudapyridine (WX-081) antibacterial activity against and its effect on bacterial growth and host survival using a zebrafish model of...
OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to investigate sudapyridine (WX-081) antibacterial activity against and its effect on bacterial growth and host survival using a zebrafish model of infection.
METHODS
WX-081 antibacterial activity was assessed based on growth inhibition of standard strain ATCC19977 and 36 clinical isolates. Maximum tolerated concentrations (MTCs) of WX-081, bedaquiline, and azithromycin and inhibition of growth were assessed after fluorescently labelled bacilli and drugs were injected into zebrafish. Bacterial counts were analysed using one-way ANOVA and fluorescence intensities of zebrafish tissues were analysed and expressed as the mean ± SE. Moreover, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was conducted to assess intergroup differences in survival of -infected zebrafish treated with different drug concentrations using a log-rank test, with a p value <0.05 indicating a difference was statistically significant.
RESULTS
Drug sensitivity testing of standard strain ATCC19977 and 36 clinical isolates revealed MICs ranging from 0.12-0.96 µg/mL and MIC and MIC values of 0.48 µg/mL and 0.96 µg/mL, respectively. Fluorescence intensities of -infected zebrafish tissues was lower after treatment with the WX-081 MTC (62.5 µg/mL) than after treatment with the azithromycin MTC (62.5 µg/mL) and the bedaquiline MTC (15.6 µg/mL). When the concentration of WX-081 increased from 1.95µg/mL to 1/8 MTC(7.81µg/mL), the survival rate of zebrafish at 4-9 dpf decreased from 90.00% to 81.67%.
CONCLUSION
WX-081 effectively inhibited growth and and prolonged survival of -infected zebrafish, thus indicating that WX-081 holds promise as a clinical treatment for infection.
Topics: Animals; Azithromycin; Mycobacterium abscessus; Zebrafish; Anti-Bacterial Agents
PubMed: 37662015
DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2023.1217975