Capsular polysaccharide serotyping and carbapenem resistance mechanism of hypermucoviscous Klebsiella pneumoniae / 中国感染与化疗杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the capsular polysaccharide (CPS) serotypes and molecular characteristics of carbapenem resistant hypermucoviscous Klebsiella pneumoniae (CR-HMKP) and study the possible mechanism of carbapenem resistance. Methods A retrospective study was conducted on 18 nonduplicate CR-HMKP strains which were collected from the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University from 2012 to 2016. The clinical data were retrieved from medical records. The capsular serotypes, resistance genes and virulence factors were detected by polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was determined on VITEK 2 compact system. The CR-HMKP strains were characterized molecularly by using PCR, multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Modified carbapenem inactivation method was used to screen carbapenemase-producing strains. Plasmid conjugation transfer experiments were carried out to study transmission of carbapenem resistance. Results Eighteen (2.7％) CR-HMKP isolates were identified, which belonged to 4 serotypes, including wzi128-K1 (n=1), wzi206-K57 (n=1), wzi2-K2 (n=2), and wzi64-K14.64 (n=14). PCR and sequencing analysis identified blaNDM-1 gene in 2 CR-HMKP strains, blaKPC-2 gene in 17 strains, qnrS1 gene in 18 strains, blaCTX-M-3 gene in 3 strains, blaCTX-M-14 gene in 18 strains, blaTEM-1 gene in 16 strains, blaSHV-12 gene in 17 strains, and rmtB in 5 strains. All the 18 CR-HMKP strains carried virulence-associated genes, including rmpA (88.9％, 16/18), magA (5.6％, 1/18), iroN (83.3％, 15/18), aerobactin (27.8％, 5/18), rmpA2 (66.7％, 12/18) and mrkD (100％, 18/18). Three sequence types (STs) were identified by MLST, including ST11 (15 strains), ST86 (2 strains), and ST412 (1 strain). PFGE resulted in three major PFGE clusters, of which cluster A corresponds to ST1 isolates, and cluster B corresponds to ST86 isolates, and cluster C corresponds to ST412 isolates. All the blaKPC-2- positive strains belonged to ST11. Plasmid conjugation was successful in 5 (27.8％) of the 18 CR-HMKP isolates. Conclusions wzi64-K14.64 is the predominant capsule serotype of the CR-HMKP strains in this hospital. KPC-2 gene conjugationmay contribute to the emergence of CR-HMKP isolates. In addition, CRHMKP strain may be the highly prevalent ST11, and highly virulent CPS serotypes harboring K1/K2.