Prevalence of some virulence factors and genotyping of hospital-acquired uropathogenic Escherichia coli isolates recovered from cancer patients

• Published in: Journal of global antimicrobial resistance. 2020-12, Vol.23, p.211-216
• Main Authors: Mahmoud, Ahmed Talaat, Ibrahem, Reham Ali, Salim, Mohamed Taha, Gabr, Adel, Halby, Hamada Mohamed
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cancer patients; ERIC-PCR; UPEC; Uropathogenic Escherichia coli; Virulence factor
• ISSN: 2213-7165; 2213-7173
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jgar.2020.08.003

•Hospital-acquired infection (HAI) is a common life-threatening complication in immunocompromised patients.•UTIs by uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised cancer patients.•Prevalence of three virulence factors among UPEC isolates obtained from cancer patients was determined.•papC was the most common virulence gene in UPEC isolates from cancer patients, followed by iutA and cnf1.•UPEC isolates grouped into three main clusters, indicating the spread of distinct clonal groups responsible for HAIs. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of virulence factors among uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) isolates from cancer patients and to investigate their genetic diversity using ERIC-PCR. A total of 42 E. coli were recovered from urine samples from cancer patients admitted to Assiut University Hospital. PCR was used to detect the presence of three virulence genes (papC, iutA and cnf1). Genetic diversity of the isolates was determined using the ERIC-PCR fingerprinting method, and amplified products were separated by agarose gel electrophoresis. Gel electrophoresis banding patterns were used for dendrogram generation using NTSYSpc software. Among the 42 UPEC isolates, papC was the most common virulence gene (55% of isolates), followed by iutA (38%) and cnf1 (2%). ERIC-PCR successfully produced multiple amplicons (range 2–11 bands) in each strain, with molecular weights ranging from 285 to 3000 bp. Some UPEC isolates had identical ERIC-PCR profiles (identical banding patterns), whilst 22 UPEC isolates had different ERIC-PCR profiles. The phylogenetic dendrogram of ERIC-PCR showed that the 42 isolates can be differentiated into three major clusters (I, II and III), with cluster I representing 76% of isolates, cluster II representing 19% and cluster III representing 5%. The results of this study suggest that both papC and iutA genes may have an important role in the pathogenesis of overt urinary tract infection. Dendrogram analysis of the ERIC-PCR profiles revealed that all UPEC isolates were assigned into three main clusters, indicating the spread of distinct clonal groups that are responsible for hospital-acquired infections.