Ricerc@Sapienza

Acinetobacter baumannii has emerged in the last decades as one of the most concerning opportunistic pathogen responsible for infections in health care settings, due to the paucity of antibiotics still effective against this microorganism. Moreover, these infections can become life threating for patients attending respiratory rehabilitation, exacerbating the underlying disease. The most effective antibiotics used against A. baumannii were carbapenems (Cb). However, the incidence of Cb-resistant isolates has raised significantly. The Cb-resistance is mainly due to production of various carbapenemases, several efflux pump systems and porin modifications or loss. Up to now, few studies addressed the simultaneously expression of these resistance mechanisms under antibiotic exposure. Therefore, the aim is to measure and comparing the expression of the genes that contribute the most to antibiotic resistance in selected A. baumannii isolates Cb-resistant, by Real Time-PCR. The reference strain AB5075 and in a set of clinical isolates collected from patients admitted to the Rehabilitation Respiratory Unit of IRCCS San Raffaele, Pisana suffering from different pulmonary diseases (e.g. chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pulmonary fibrosis, emphysema, chronic respiratory insufficiency, lung transplant, bronchiectasis, major thoracic surgery) will be analyzed. The clinical impact of infections caused by Cb-resistant A. baumannii isolates on patients¿ conditions will also be evaluated. These studies could enhance our knowledge on key players in Cb-resistance providing a foundation for new therapeutic strategies to combat A. baumannii infections as well as identifying potential risk factors in susceptible patients that will allow to adopt appropriate preventive measures against these community-associated infections.