Molecular Characteristic, Antibiotic Resistance, and Detection of Highly Immunoreactive Proteins of Group B Streptococcus Strains Isolated From Urinary Tract Infections in Polish Adults

Anna Dobrut; Dorota Ochońska; Ewa Brzozowska; Sabina Górska; Jolanta Kaszuba-Zwoinska; Monika Gołda-Cępa; Andrzej Gamian; Monika Brzychczy-Wloch

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2022.809724

Molecular Characteristic, Antibiotic Resistance, and Detection of Highly Immunoreactive Proteins of Group B Streptococcus Strains Isolated From Urinary Tract Infections in Polish Adults

Front Microbiol. 2022 Mar 22:13:809724. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.809724. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Anna Dobrut¹, Dorota Ochońska¹, Ewa Brzozowska², Sabina Górska³, Jolanta Kaszuba-Zwoinska⁴, Monika Gołda-Cępa⁵, Andrzej Gamian², Monika Brzychczy-Wloch¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Molecular Medical Microbiology, Chair of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kraków, Poland.
² Laboratory of Medical Microbiology, Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wrocław, Poland.
³ Laboratory of Microbiome Immunobiology, Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wrocław, Poland.
⁴ Chair of Pathophysiology, Faculty of Medicine, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kraków, Poland.
⁵ Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland.

Abstract

Group B streptococcus (GBS) is one of the uropathogens that causes urinary tract infections (UTIs). The aims of this article were molecular characterization, an analysis of antimicrobial susceptibility profiles, adherence to bladder endothelial cells, and the detection of immunoreactive proteins of 94 clinical strains of GBS isolated from adult Polish patients with UTI. Antibiotic susceptibilities were determined by disk diffusion. Serotyping and Alp family genes detection were studied using multiplex PCR. Genetic profiles were determined by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. The adherence ability of the studied strains was estimated by incubation on human bladder microvascular endothelial cell line. Immunoreactive proteins were studied by immunoblotting. Antibiotic susceptibility investigation revealed that 22% of GBS strains were resistant to erythromycin, whereas 18% demonstrated resistance to clindamycin. cMLS_B was present in 76% of the resistant strains, M phenotype was detected in 14%, whereas iMLS_B was present for 10%. The most common serotype was serotype III (31%), followed by serotype V (27%), and serotype Ia (17%). The genes that dominated among other Alp genes were: epsilon (29%), alp2 (27%), and rib (23%). The most common co-occurring serotypes and Alp genes were: Ia and epsilon, III and rib, III and alp2, V and alp2, and V and alp3 (p < 0.001). The PFGE method showed high clonality for serotype V and cMLS_B (p < 001). The PFGE method showed high clonality for serotype V. Furthermore, this serotype was significantly associated with the cMLS_B phenotype (p < 0.001). The most common immunoreactive proteins demonstrated masses of 50 kDa and 45-47 kDa. Although examined GBS isolates showed high genetic diversity, immunoreactive proteins were common for most of the studied GBS isolates, which may indicate their conservation, and allows to consider them as potential immunodiagnostic markers. Although the examined GBS isolates showed high genetic diversity, immunoreactive proteins were shared by most of the studied GBS isolates. It may indicate their conservation, thus allowing to consider them as potential immunodiagnostic markers.

Keywords: Streptococcus agalactiae; antibiotic resistance; cell lines adherence; group B streptococcus; immunoreactive proteins; molecular characterization; urinary tract infection.