The prevailing O serogroups among the serologically differentiated clinical Proteus spp. strains in central Poland

Abstract

In the years 2006–2011, 617 Proteus spp. strains isolated mostly from urine and wounds or other clinical sources were collected in Łódź, Poland, to determine the offensive O serotypes frequently occurring among patients. P. mirabilis exhibited the most intensive swarming growth and was dominating species (86.9%), followed by P. genomospecies, P. vulgaris, and P. penneri. Ninety four per cent strains were recognized as S (smooth) forms. Serological studies (involving ELISA—enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Western blotting using native and adsorbed rabbit antisera) enabled classification of 80% S isolates into respective Proteus O serogroups among the 83 ones, described so far. The remaining strains seemed to be serologically unique. Despite the observed big serological variety of Proteus spp. isolates, we found the O78 serogroup recently described in Poland as dominating and identified other widespread serotypes: O3, O6, O10, O11, O27, O28, and O30 reported earlier as predominating also in other countries; O77 and O79 detected lately in Poland; O16, O18, O20, and O50. No unique structural feature of the prevalent O serotypes has been indicated. However, the prevalence of some O serogroups indicates that particular serotypes may be in some ways beneficial to the strains producing these kinds of O antigen.

Proteus mirabilis and Klebsiella pneumoniae as pathogens capable of causing co-infections and exhibiting similarities in their virulence factors

“…An occurrence frequency of BSIs may also depend on a world region e.g. no P. mirabilis strains out of 536 collected in Łodź(Poland) came from blood (Drzewiecka et al, 2021). P. mirabilis BSIs mostly originate from complicated UTIs in patients with communityacquired infections (Chen et al, 2012).…”

“…Among Proteus species, P. mirabilis is the most important etiological factor of infections (80-90% of all Proteus infections), which has also been confirmed by the studies performed on 617 Proteus spp. strains collected in Łódź (2006–2011) from different clinical sources (86.9% of isolation frequency) ( Drzewiecka et al., 2021 ). Among Klebsiella species, K. pneumoniae is responsible for 75-86% of Klebsiella species infections ( Watanakunakorn, 1991 ; Hansen et al., 2004 ).…”

“…Currently, the Proteus O-antigen classification scheme includes 83 O-serogroups, among which 43 contain P. mirabilis strains (the majority of them contain P. mirabilis strains only and in eight O-serogroups there are also other representatives of the genus – O8, O11, O13, O17, O23, O34, O54, O69 and O71) ( Knirel et al., 2011 ; Drzewiecka et al., 2016a ; Drzewiecka et al., 2016b ). O77-O82 serogroups were created from Proteus clinical isolates from the Łódź area (Central Poland) ( Drzewiecka et al., 2021 ).…”

“…In most of the studies Proteus O10 and O30 serogroups were also frequently found ( Larsson, 1984 ). The O78 serogroup was found to be the most numerous in the Proteus classification scheme and seemed to be prevalent among patients from the Łódź area ( Drzewiecka et al., 2021 ). K. pneumoniae O2 is the most heterogenous serotype characterized by the presence of many partial antigens ( Figures 2A, G ), among which O2ab was detected in the majority of O1 and O2ab clinical isolates tested ( Whitfield et al., 1992 ; Trautmann et al., 1997 ; Trautman et al., 2004 ).…”

Phosphocholine decoration of Proteus mirabilis O18 LPS induces hydrophobicity of the cell surface and electrokinetic potential, but does not alter the adhesion to solid surfaces

“…P. mirabilis is commonly responsible for catheter associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI), especially in long-term hospitalised patients, where P. mirabilis is the most frequent aetiological factor ( Armbruster et al, 2018 ). The P. mirabilis cell surface is covered by highly diverse lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which provides the basis for classification of Proteus strains to serogroups ( Drzewiecka et al, 2021 , Yu et al, 2017 ). The one medically important serogroup, O18, harbours a unique decoration based on phosphocholine (ChoP) incorporation into the LPS O antigen ( Fudala et al, 2003 ).…”