Hetero- and adaptive resistance to polymyxin B in OXA-23-producing carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii isolates

BACKGROUND: Resistance rates to polymyxin B in surveillance studies have been very low despite its increasing use worldwide as the last resort therapy for multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacilli. However, two other resistance phenotypes, hetero- and adaptive resistance, have been reported to polymyxin. We aimed to investigate the presence of polymyxin B hetero- and adaptive resistance and evaluate its stability in carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) clinical isolates. METHODS: CRAB isolates were recovered from hospitalized patients at three Brazilian hospitals. Hetero-resistance was determined by population analysis profile (PAP). Adaptive resistance was evaluated after serial daily passages of isolates in Luria-Bertani broth containing increasing polymyxin B concentrations. MICs of polymyxin B of colonies growing at the highest polymyxin B concentration were further determined after daily sub-cultured in antibiotic-free medium and after storage at −80°C, in some selected isolates. RESULTS: Eighty OXA-23-producing CRAB isolates were typed resulting in 15 distinct clones. Twenty-nine randomly selected isolates (at least one from each clone) were selected for hetero- resistance evaluation: 26 (90%) presented growth of subpopulations with higher polymyxin B MIC than the original one in PAP. No isolate has grown at polymyxin B concentrations higher than 2 mg/L. Polymyxin B MICs of subpopulations remained higher than the original population after daily passages on antibiotic-free medium but returned to the same or similar levels after storage. Twenty-two of the 29 isolates (at least one from each clone) were evaluated for adaptive resistance: 12 (55%) presented growth in plates containing 64 mg/L of polymyxin B. Polymyxin B MICs decreased after daily passages on antibiotic-free medium and returned to the same levels after storage. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of subpopulations with higher polymyxin B MIC was extremely common and high-level adaptive resistance was very frequent in CRAB isolates.