Skip Navigation

Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 2006 58(3):564-574; doi:10.1093/jac/dkl291
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Koszczol, C.
Right arrow Articles by Krut, O.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Koszczol, C.
Right arrow Articles by Krut, O.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
The online version of this article has been published under an open access model. Users are entitled to use, reproduce, disseminate, or display the open access version of this article for non-commercial purposes provided that: the original authorship is properly and fully attributed; the Journal and Oxford University Press are attributed as the original place of publication with the correct citation details given; if an article is subsequently reproduced or disseminated not in its entirety but only in part or as a derivative work this must be clearly indicated. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Subinhibitory quinupristin/dalfopristin attenuates virulence of Staphylococcus aureus

Carmen Koszczol, Katussevani Bernardo{dagger}, Martin Krönke and Oleg Krut*

1 Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene, Medical Center, University of Cologne, Goldenfelsstrasse 19-21 50935 Köln, Germany

Received 19 September 2005; returned 10 March 2006; revised 5 May 2006; accepted 23 June 2006

*Corresponding author. Tel: +49-221-478 3018; Fax: +49-221-478-3067; E-mail: Oleg.Krut{at}uni-koeln.de

Objectives: The semi-synthetic streptogramin quinupristin/dalfopristin antibiotic exerts potent bactericidal activity against Staphylococcus aureus. We investigated whether, like other bactericidal antibiotics used at subinhibitory concentrations, quinupristin/dalfopristin enhances release of toxins by Gram-positive cocci.

Methods: The activity of quinupristin/dalfopristin on exotoxin release by S. aureus was investigated by 2D SDS–PAGE combined with MALDI-TOF/MS analysis and by western blotting.

Results: We show that quinupristin/dalfopristin at subinhibitory concentrations reduces the release of S. aureus factors that induce tumour necrosis factor secretion in macrophages. Furthermore, quinupristin/dalfopristin but not linezolid attenuated S. aureus-mediated killing of infected host cells. When added to S. aureus cultures at different stages of bacterial growth, quinupristin/dalfopristin reduced in a dose-dependent manner the release of specific virulence factors (e.g. autolysin, protein A, {alpha}- and ß-haemolysins, lipases). In contrast, other presumably non-toxic exoproteins remained unchanged.

Conclusions: The results of the present study suggest that subinhibitory quinupristin/dalfopristin inhibits virulence factor release by S. aureus, which might be especially helpful for the treatment of S. aureus infections, where both bactericidal as well as anti-toxin activity may be advantageous.

Keywords: proteomics , exoproteins , mass spectrometry , antibiotics


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J Antimicrob ChemotherHome page
S. J. Dancer
The effect of antibiotics on methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
J. Antimicrob. Chemother., February 1, 2008; 61(2): 246 - 253.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.