Evaluation of Antimicrobial Resistance and Immune Evasion Cluster Genes in Clinical Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus ( MRSA ) Isolates from Khuzestan Province , Iran

C I T A T I O N L I N K S A R T I C L E I N F O Article Type Original Research Authors Ariyarad S.1 MSc, Rezatofighi S. E.2 ,1*PhD, Motamedi H.2 ,1 PhD How to cite this article Ariarad S, Rezatofighi SE, Motamedi H. Evaluation of Antimicrobial Resistance and Immune Evasion Cluster Genes in Clinical Methicilin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) Isolates from Khuzestan Province, Iran. Infection Epidemiology and Microbiology. 2019;5(1):7-14 1 Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran 2 Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Center, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran * Correspondence Address: e.tofighi@yahoo. com; e.tofighi@scu.ac. ir Postal code: 6135743135, Tel and Fax: 00986113331045 Postal Code: 1316943551 Article History Received: February 14 ,2019 Accepted: Marc 14 ,2019 ePublished: May 30 ,2019 [1] Baptistão LG, Silva NC, Bonsaglia EC, Rossi BF, Castilho IG, Fernandes Junior A, et al. Presence of immune evasion cluster and molecular . [2] Liang BS, Huang YM, Chen YS, Dong H, Mai JL, Xie YQ, et al. Antimicrobial resistance and . [3] Hau SJ, Sun J, Davies PR, Frana TS, Nicholson TL. Comparative prevalence of immune evasion . [4] McCarthy AJ, Witney AA, Lindsay JA. Staphylococcus aureus temperate bacteriophage. [5] Foster TJ. Immune evasion by staphylococci. [6] Yu F, Li T, Huang X, Xie J, Xu Y, Tu J, et al. Virulence gene profiling and. [7] Jongerius I, von Köckritz-Blickwede M, Horsburgh MJ, Ruyken M, Nizet V, Rooijakkers SH. Staphylococcus. [8] van Wamel WJ, Rooijakkers SH, Ruyken M, van Kessel KP, van Strijp JA. The innate . [9] Verkaik NJ, Benard M, Boelens HA, de Vogel CP, Nouwen JL, Verbrugh HA, et al. Immune evasion . [10] Jongerius I, Köhl J, Pandey MK, Ruyken M, van Kessel KP, van Strijp JA, et al. Staphylococcal . [11] Kraushaar B, Hammerl JA, Kienöl M, Heinig ML, Sperling N, Dinh Thanh M, et al. . [12] de Jong NWM, Vrieling M, Garcia BL, Koop G, Brettmann M, Aerts PC, et al. Identification . [13] Wayne PA. CLSI, Performance standards for. [14] Emaneini M, Bigverdi R, Kalantar D, Soroush S, Jabalameli F, Noorazar Khoshgnab B, et al. Distribution of. [15] Ahmadrajabi R, Layegh-Khavidaki S, Kalantar-Neyestanaki D, Fasihi Y. Molecular analysis of . [16] Price LB, Stegger M, Hasman H, Aziz M, Larsen J, Andersen PS, et al. . [17] Stefani S, Chung DR, Lindsay JA, Friedrich AW, Kearns AM, Westh H, et al. Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA): global epidemiology and harmonisation of. [18] Hudson LO, Murphy CR, Spratt BG, Enright MC, Elkins K, Nguyen C, et al. Diversity of. [19] Dinges MM, Orwin PM, Schlievert PM. [20] You Y, Song L, Nonyane BAS, Price LB, Silbergeld EK. Genomic differences between nasal . [21] Zadoks RN, van Leeuwen WB, Kreft D, Fox LK, Barkema HW, Schukken YH, et al. Comparison of . [22] Goerke C, Wirtz C, Fluckiger U, Wolz C. Extensive phage. [23] Sadeghi J, Mansouri S. Molecular characterization and . [24] Ohadian Moghadam S, Pourmand MR, Mahmoudi M, Sadighian H. [25] Saderi H, Emadi B, Owlia P. Phenotypic and genotypic study of . Aims: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is recognized as an important health problem worldwide. To counteract the human innate immunity, S. aureus produces a number of immune evasion clusters (IEC) including staphylokinase (SAK), staphylococcal enterotoxin P (SEP), staphylococcal enterotoxin A (SEA), staphylococcal complement inhibitor (SCIN), and chemotaxis inhibitory protein (CHIP), encoded by sak, sep, sea, scn, and chp genes, respectively. These genes are carried by β-haemolysin-converting bacteriophages. The present study was conducted to determine the IEC phage types and antibiotic resistance patterns in 145 clinical MRSA isolates from Khuzestan Province, Iran. Materials & Methods: All the isolates were investigated by disc diffusion method and PCR assay for sak, sep, sea, scn, and chp genes. Findings: The assessment of antibiotic resistance showed the highest resistance rate towards penicillin (97.25%), followed by methicillin (95.8%), ceftazidime (81.4%), erythromycin (71.8%), clindamycin (61.4%), ciprofloxacin (60.7%), gentamycin (56%), imipenem (56.55%), and vancomycin (0%), respectively. Also, the frequency of IEC types was as follows: Type A, 4.8%; Type B, 9%; Type C, 13.1%; Type D, 12.4%; Type E, 27.6%; Type F, 1.4%; Type G, 0.7%; and Type H, 6.9%. On the other hand, 24.1% of the isolates showed no IEC type. Conclusion: The findings showed that IEC-carrying bacteriophages were highly prevalent among the MRSA strains, resulting in the adaptation and counteraction of bacteria with the human immune system. Therefore, understanding the role of IEC in bacteria virulence can improve our knowledge about the evolution, vaccination, and treatment of S. aureus infection.