Resistance of Russian isolates of Neisseria gonorrhoeae to fluoroquinolones

• Published in: Molekulârnaâ genetika, mikrobiologiâ i virusologiâ no. 1; p. 23
• Main Authors: Vereshchagin, V A, Il'una, E N, Malakhova, M V, Zubkov, M M, Sidorenko, S V, Kubanova, A A, Govorun, V M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Russia (Federation) 2005
• Subjects: Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology; Anti-Bacterial Agents - therapeutic use; Bacterial Proteins - antagonists & inhibitors; Bacterial Proteins - genetics; DNA Topoisomerases, Type II - genetics; Drug Resistance, Microbial - genetics; Fluoroquinolones - pharmacology; Fluoroquinolones - therapeutic use; Gonorrhea - drug therapy; Gonorrhea - microbiology; Humans; Ketone Oxidoreductases - antagonists & inhibitors; Ketone Oxidoreductases - genetics; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Moscow; Mutation; Neisseria gonorrhoeae - drug effects; Neisseria gonorrhoeae - genetics; Neisseria gonorrhoeae - isolation & purification; Promoter Regions, Genetic; Pyruvate Synthase; Repressor Proteins - antagonists & inhibitors; Repressor Proteins - genetics; Topoisomerase II Inhibitors; Moscow
• ISSN: 0208-0613

Fluoroquinolones still belong to the drugs of choice in the treatment of uncomplicated gonorrhea. At the same time, there have been more data on the spreading N. gonorrhoeae strains resistant to fluoroquinolones. A variety of mechanisms, like modification of the target of antibiotic's action (point mutations in genes gyrA and parC), a decreasing permeability of the bacterial cell membrane (amino-acid changes Por protein) and a growing efflux of antibiotic (mutations in the promoter or in the coding region of mtrR) mediate in the shaping resistance of the drugs. The MIC values for four fluoroquinolone-series antibiotics were determined and the gyrA, parC, por and mtrR genes were examined for resistance-responsible mutations in 32 studied clinical strains of N. gonorrhoeae. Strains with high resistance to fluoroquinolones were detected; 3 of them had no common changes in GyrA or ParC, however, amino acid changes and mutations were detected in Por protein and promoter or gene mtrR encoding region, respectively. The paper contains priority data on the detection (in Russia) of N. gonorrhoeae strains with high resistance to fluoroquinolones. Involvement of different mechanisms in the process of resistance shaping is discussed. The results are of practical importance for planning the antibacterial therapy of gonorrhoeae; they point out the need in regional testing of resistance in the N. gonorrhoeae population encountered in Russia.