The problems of drug-resistant pathogenic bacteria. R factors: biochemical mechanisms of resistance to aminoglycoside antibiotics.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to R Benveniste.
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A resistance (R) factor- containing strain of Escherichia coli which is known to inactivate streptomycin by adenylylation has been shown to be spectinomycin resistant. An osmotic shockate of this strain catalyzes the formation of the biologically inactive spectinomycin adenylate, in which the adenylyl residue is probably attached to a d-threo methylamino alcohol moiety of spectinomycin. Both the streptomycin and spectinomycin adenylylating activities show the same temperature inactivation profile, and both are present in a protein fraction purified for the streptomycin inactivating enzyme. Mutants obtained from this strain which were sensitive to either spectinomycin or streptomycin were shown to lack both enzymatic activities when tested in vitro. Revertants of these mutants selected for recovery of either streptomycin resistance or spectinomycin resistance regain both activities. Therefore, we conclude that the inactivation of the two drugs is catalyzed by the same enzyme. Examination of a number of R factor-carrying strains has shown that those strains which are resistant to streptomycin and spectinomycin contain the adenylylating enzyme, whereas strains resistant to streptomycin but sensitive to spectinomycin inactivate streptomycin by phosphorylation.
R-factor strains which are streptomycin-resistant and spectinomycin-sensitive have been found to inactivate streptomycin by a new mechanism. The 3'-OH group of the 2-deoxy-2-methylamino-l-glucopyranosyl moiety is phosphorylated.
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The antiretroviral drugs azidothymidine (AZT) and 9-(-2-phosphonyl-methoxyethyl)adenine (PMEA) were individually tested for prevention of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIVmne) infection in macaques (Macaca fascicularis). Macaques were pretreated with either drug before inoculation with SIVmne, and drug treatment was continued for four weeks. The virus, antibody, and clinical status of the macaques was monitored for up to 36 weeks following inoculation. While AZT prophylaxis resulted in reduced virus load in some macaques, PMEA prophylaxis was highly efficacious in preventing acute SIVmne infection.
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The decline in the CD4% and CD4/CD8 ratios have been compared in lymph nodes and blood from SIVMNE/E11S infected rhesus macaques. The results indicate that loss from the LN CD4+ cell pool does not occur until CD4/CD8 ratios of less than 0.5 is reached in blood. These changes also correlate with the ability to isolate virus from the blood and the transition of CD45RAhi to highly activated CD45RAlo CD8+ cells both of which may play a role in eliminating CD4+ cells. In end-stage disease, CD8+ cells also decline in LN and mitogen responsiveness no longer exists in any nodes. Interestingly at this stage, the circulating CD8% increases significantly and represents the only source of functional T cells remaining in the body.