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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, January 2006, p. 287, Vol. 44, No. 1
0095-1137/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.44.1.287.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Panton-Valentine Leukocidin Genes in a Laboratory Quality Control Strain of Staphylococcus aureus


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LETTER
 
Until rather recently, our total awareness of the Staphylococcus aureus-associated exotoxin known as Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) was limited to a few historic publications (2). Interest in PVL was renewed in the 1990s with the recognition of two distinct yet soon-to-be-linked observations: infections caused by strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) were finding their way into the community (4), and strains of S. aureus-producing PVL were being found with increasing frequency in patients with localized soft tissue infections (1, 3) and hemorrhagic pneumonia (3). These initial reports were followed by a profusion of publications describing cases, outbreaks, and the epidemiology of infection caused by community-acquired MRSA (CA-MRSA), by PVL-producing S. aureus, and ultimately by PVL-producing CA-MRSA (for an excellent and succinct review, see the commentary of Jerome Etienne [2]). To keep up with the times, and to better understand the significance of PVL production by strains of S. aureus in our institution and community, an in-house PCR assay was evaluated based on the method of Lina et al. (3). It was soon obvious after running this assay with DNA extracted from a number of CA- and hospital-acquired (HA)-MRSA strains that the former generated a number of positive strains while the latter appeared to be uniformly negative for the appropriate amplicon. To formalize the protocol, a PVL-positive CA-MRSA strain was selected for routine use until an appropriate positive control (S. aureus ATCC 49775) (3) could be ordered. Rather than using one of the PCR-negative HA-MRSA strains evaluated initially, I opted to use DNA from a strain of S. aureus that is routinely used in the clinical microbiology laboratory for quality control of antimicrobial susceptibility testing (ATCC 25923). This strain had also been used in our laboratory for quality control of an in-house molecular typing assay. Much to my surprise, this putative negative control turned out to be PCR positive for the PVL genes lukS-PV and lukF-PV. Repeat extraction of DNA from a fresh isolate produced the same result. As a consequence, I was forced to return to my collection of HA-MRSA strains for the elusive PVL-negative control strain and was left to ponder how many other domesticated laboratory quality control strains are currently packing concealed weapons.


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REFERENCES
 
    1
  1. Cribier, B., G. Prevost, P. Couppie, V. Finck-Barbancon, E. Frosshans, and Y. Piemont. 1992. Staphylococcus aureus leukocidin: a new virulence vactor in cutaneous infections? An epidemiological and experimental study. Dermatology 185:175-180.[Medline]
    2. 2
  2. Etienne, J. 2005. Panton-Valentine leukocidin: a marker of severity for Staphylococcus aureus infection? Clin. Infect. Dis. 41:591-593.[CrossRef][Medline]
    3. 3
  3. Lina, G., Y. Piemont, F. Godail-Gamot, M. Bes, M.-O. Peter, V. Gauduchon, F. Vandenesch, and J. Etienne. 1999. Involvement of Panton-Valentine leukocidin-producing Staphylococcus aureus in primary skin infections and pneumonia. Clin. Infect. Dis. 29:1128-1132.[CrossRef][Medline]
    4. 4
  4. Lindenmayer, J. M., S. Schoenfeld, R. O'Grady, and J. K. Carney. 1998. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in a high school wrestling team and the surrounding community. Arch. Intern. Med. 158:895-899.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
W. Michael Dunne Jr.*
Department of Pathology and Immunology
Washington University School of Medicine
St. Louis, Missouri 63110

* Phone: (314) 362-1547, Fax: (314) 362-1461, E-mail: dunne{at}wustl.edu

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, January 2006, p. 287, Vol. 44, No. 1
0095-1137/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.44.1.287.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Kearns, A. M., Ganner, M., Holmes, A. (2006). The 'Oxford Staphylococcus': a note of caution. J Antimicrob Chemother 58: 480-481 [Full Text]  

This Article
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