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  • Title: Increased resistance to cationic antimicrobial peptide LL-37 in methicillin-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus.
    Author: Ouhara K, Komatsuzawa H, Kawai T, Nishi H, Fujiwara T, Fujiue Y, Kuwabara M, Sayama K, Hashimoto K, Sugai M.
    Journal: J Antimicrob Chemother; 2008 Jun; 61(6):1266-9. PubMed ID: 18367458.
    Abstract:
    OBJECTIVES: The susceptibility of clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus, including methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), to host-derived cationic antimicrobial peptides was investigated. METHODS: We examined the susceptibility of 190 clinical strains of methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) and 304 strains of MRSA to two different classes of cationic antimicrobial peptides: LL-37 and human beta-defensin-3 (hBD3). Out of the total 494 clinical strains, a random selection of 54 S. aureus strains was examined to establish the relationship between the net charge, or zeta potential, of each strain and its susceptibility to hBD3 or LL-37. To further confirm bacterial susceptibility to either hBD3 or LL-37, we concurrently measured: (i) percentage survival after in vitro bacterial exposure and (ii) MBCs for both MRSA and MSSA strains. RESULTS: Of the 54 randomly selected S. aureus strains, those MRSA strains resistant to LL-37 showed significantly higher zeta potentials than those susceptible to LL-37 (P < 0.05). In contrast, there was no difference in bacterial zeta potentials for MRSA strains that showed either resistance or susceptibility to hBD3. In addition, resistance to LL-37, but not to hBD3, as determined by either percentage survival or MBC, was significantly elevated in highly methicillin-resistant strains of S. aureus when compared with MSSA strains (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Clinical strains of MRSA, but not MSSA, that demonstrated an increased net charge also showed elevated resistance to LL-37, but not to hBD3.
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