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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, March 1998, p. 545-549, Vol. 42, No. 3
0066-4804/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Prophylactic Anti-Infective Activity of Poly-[1-6]-beta -D-Glucopyranosyl-[1-3]-beta -D-Glucopyranose Glucan in a Guinea Pig Model of Staphylococcal Wound Infection

Douglas S. Kernodle,1,2,* Hiriam Gates,1 and Allen B. Kaiser1,dagger

Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee 37232-2605,1 and the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee 37212-26372

Received 13 June 1997/Returned for modification 25 September 1997/Accepted 19 December 1997

The judicious use of perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis reduces the infectious complications of surgery. However, increased bacterial resistance within hospitals may make antibiotic prophylaxis less effective in the future and alternative strategies are needed. New immunomodulatory agents might prevent wound infections by stimulation of the host immune system. To test this hypothesis, we administered poly-[1-6]-beta -D-glucopyranosyl-[1-3]-beta -D-glucopyranose glucan (PGG glucan), which enhances neutrophil microbicidal activity, intravenously to guinea pigs in doses ranging from 0.015 to 4 mg/kg of body weight on the day before, on the day of, and on the day after intermuscular inoculation with methicillin-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis. Abscesses were identified at 72 h, and median infective doses (ID50) and statistical significance were determined by logistic regression. Guinea pigs receiving PGG glucan and inoculated with methicillin-resistant S. aureus and S. epidermidis exhibited ID50 of as much as 2.5- and 60-fold higher, respectively, than those of control guinea pigs not receiving PGG glucan. Maximal protection was observed with a dose of 1 mg of PGG glucan per kg, and efficacy was reduced at higher as well as at lower PGG glucan doses. Furthermore, a single dose of PGG glucan given 24 h following bacterial inoculation was found to be effective in preventing infection. We conclude that PGG glucan reduces the risk of staphylococcal abscess formation. Neutrophil-activating agents are a novel means of prophylaxis against surgical infection and may be less likely than antibiotics to be affected adversely by the increasing antibiotic resistance of nosocomial pathogens.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Division of Infectious Diseases, A-3310 MCN, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Garland and 21st Ave. South, Nashville, TN 37232-2605. Phone: (615) 327-4751, ext. 5512. Fax: (615) 321-6327. E-mail: kernodds{at}ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu.

dagger Consultant for Alpha-Beta Technology, Inc., regarding clinical trials of PGG glucan in surgery.

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, March 1998, p. 545-549, Vol. 42, No. 3
0066-4804/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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