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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, December 2003, p. 3973-3975, Vol. 47, No. 12
0066-4804/03/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/AAC.47.12.3973-3975.2003
Copyright © 2003, American
Society for
Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Comparative In Vitro Susceptibilities and Bactericidal Activities of Investigational Fluoroquinolone ABT-492 and Other Antimicrobial Agents against Human Mycoplasmas and Ureaplasmas
Ken B. Waites,1,2* Donna M. Crabb,2 and Lynn B. Duffy2
Departments
of Pathology,1
Microbiology,University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama
352492
Received 30 June 2003/
Returned for modification 10 September 2003/
Accepted 18 September 2003

ABSTRACT
We
determined in vitro susceptibilities for ABT-492 and other
antimicrobials
against
Mycoplasma pneumoniae,
Mycoplasma
fermentans,
Mycoplasma hominis, and
Ureaplasma
species. ABT-492 MICs were

1 µg/ml,
and the agent was
bactericidal against selected isolates of
M. pneumoniae and
M. hominis. ABT-492 has potential for treatment
of infections
due to these
microorganisms.

TEXT
ABT-492 (Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, Ill.) is an investigational
fluoroquinolone
with activity against gram-negative and gram-positive
bacteria
that cause respiratory tract infections, including
Streptococcus pneumoniae,
Haemophilus influenzae, and
Moraxella catarralis
(
3,
10,
11).
This drug is known
to be up to 64 times more active than other
fluoroquinolones currently
available for use against
S. pneumoniae
(
3).
This study was
undertaken to evaluate the in vitro activity
of ABT-492 against a large
number of clinical isolates of mycoplasma
and ureaplasma species known
to cause disease in humans. ABT-492
was studied in comparison to other
fluoroquinolones, macrolides,
lincosamides, and doxycycline. Its
bactericidal activities were
assessed against these organisms by
determining MBCs and by
measuring the dynamics of bacterial killing
with time-kill assays
for selected isolates.
(This work was
presented at the 103rd General Meeting of the American Society for
Microbiology, Washington, D.C., 18 to 22 May 2003.)
The
Mycoplasma pneumoniae isolates included 101 strains collected
from the respiratory tracts of individuals with proven respiratory
disease. Mycoplasma fermentans isolates (n =
13) were either clinical strains or were derived from the mycoplasma
collection at the National Institutes of Health. Mycoplasma
hominis isolates (n = 10) were derived from
clinical specimens of the urogenital tract or wound cultures.
Ureaplasma isolates (n = 22), which included
both U. urealyticum and U. parvum, were derived from
cultures of the urogenital tracts of adults or lower respiratory tracts
of neonates.
The following antimicrobial agents were tested:
ABT-492, ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, gatifloxacin, moxifloxacin,
clarithromycin, azithromycin, erythromycin, doxycycline, and
clindamycin. Clindamycin was tested only against M. hominis
and M. fermentans. Clarithromycin, azithromycin, and
erythromycin were tested only against M. pneumoniae and
Ureaplasma spp. Antimicrobial powders were dissolved according
to the manufacturers' recommendations. ABT-492 was dissolved in 1
N NaOH and then diluted to the desired concentration in sterile
deionized water. Stock solutions of each drug were prepared fresh on
the day each assay was performed.
A broth microdilution method
(9) was performed to
determine MICs. A subgroup of randomly chosen isolates consisting of 13
M. pneumoniae, 3 M. hominis, 2 M.
fermentans, and 2 Ureaplasma isolates was tested to
determine MBCs of ABT-492 in comparison to those of other
fluoroquinolones. Doxycycline, known to be bacteriostatic against
mycoplasmas and ureaplasmas, was also tested for comparative purposes.
MBC testing was performed directly from microtiter plates used to
determine MICs as described previously
(9). Bactericidal activity
was identified when the MBC was no more than 2 dilutions (fourfold)
greater than the MIC. For the time-kill assays, ABT-492 powder was
dissolved and added to each of four tubes of SP 4 broth at
concentrations equivalent to one, two, four, and eight times the MICs
that had been determined for three isolates of M. pneumoniae
and one isolate of M. hominis by procedures and quality
control measures described previously
(9). Bactericidal effect
in this assay was defined as a reduction of
3 log10
CFU (99.9%) from the original inoculum.
Summaries of the
MICs of ABT-492 the other antimicrobial agents used in this study are
shown in Table
1. All organisms were inhibited by ABT-492 at concentrations of 1
µg/ml or less.
View this table:
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|
TABLE 1. Summary
of broth microdilution MICs of ABT-492 and other antimicrobial agents
for human mycoplasmas and ureaplasmas
|
For
M. pneumoniae, the ABT-492
MIC at which 90% of the isolates
tested are inhibited
(MIC
90) (0.5 µg/ml) was fourfold
higher than those
of gatifloxacin and moxifloxacin, twofold
less than that of
levofloxacin, and eightfold less than that
of ciprofloxacin.
Fluoroquinolones were less potent overall
against
M.
pneumoniae than macrolides, with the maximum macrolide
MIC equal
to 0.016 µg/ml. ABT-492 MBCs for 7 of 13 isolates
were less
than or equal to four times the MICs, indicating bactericidal
activity
(Table
2). The MBCs of all of the other fluoroquinolones
were less than or equal
to four times the MIC for 10 to 12 of
the 13
M. pneumoniae
isolates tested. Conversely, doxycycline
showed primarily a
bacteriostatic effect with 11 of 13 MBCs
being at least eight times
higher than the corresponding MICs.
Time-kill assay results for three
M. pneumoniae isolates showed
that ABT-492 killed 99.9%
of all three isolates after 24 h when
tested at eight times
the MIC, after 48 h at concentrations
equivalent to twice the
MIC or greater, and after 96 h at the
MIC.
The ABT-492
MIC
90 for
M. fermentans (0.016 µg/ml) was
equal
to that of gatifloxacin, was twofold less than that of
moxifloxacin,
and was eightfold less than those of levofloxacin and
ciprofloxacin.
All fluoroquinolones tested except levofloxacin and
ciprofloxacin
were somewhat more potent than clindamycin and
doxycycline against
this mycoplasma. MBCs for two of two
M.
fermentans isolates
were within 2 dilutions of the MICs,
indicating bactericidal
activity. Other fluoroquinolones also showed
bactericidal activities
for at least one of the two isolates tested,
whereas doxycycline
was bacteriostatic.
The M. hominis
ABT-492 MIC90 (0.016 µg/ml) was 4-fold less than the
gatifloxacin and moxifloxacin MIC90s and 32-fold less than
the levofloxacin and ciprofloxacin MIC90s, making it the
most potent fluoroquinolone tested against this mycoplasma. ABT-492 was
fourfold more active than clindamycin and had similar activity against
five doxycycline-susceptible isolates and five doxycycline-resistant
isolates that were tested. ABT-492 MBCs for two of three M.
hominis isolates were within 2 dilutions of the MICs, indicating
bactericidal activity similar to that of the other fluoroquinolones,
whereas doxycyline was bacteriostatic. The time-kill assay showed a
bactericidal effect for ABT-492 against M. hominis after
12 h of incubation at concentrations of four and eight times
the MIC and after 48 h at concentrations of two or more times
the MIC.
For Ureaplasma spp., the ABT-492
MIC90 (0.25 µg/ml) was 2-fold less than the
moxifloxacin MIC90, 4-fold less than the gatifloxacin
MIC90, 8-fold less than the levofloxacin MIC90,
and 32-fold less than the ciprofloxacin MIC90, making it the
most potent fluoroquinolone tested against this organism. The activity
of ABT-492 was comparable to those of clarithromycin and doxycycline.
MBCs for both ureaplasma isolates were
8 dilutions higher than
MICs, indicating bacteriostatic activity for ABT-492 against this
organism. None of the other fluoroquinolones or doxycyline yielded MBCs
that were within 4 dilutions of the corresponding MICs.
This
study has quantitated the inhibitory activity of a new fluoroquinolone,
ABT-492, against clinical isolates of human mycoplasmas and ureaplasmas
and demonstrated bactericidal activity against a subgroup of these
organisms. MIC and MBC data for ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin,
moxifloxacin, and gatifloxacin are consistent with previously published
results for these drugs tested against human mycoplasmas and
ureaplasmas
(1-9).
The results of this study support the future clinical development of
ABT-492 as a potential treatment for diseases caused by these
organisms.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was supported by
a grant from Abbott Laboratories,
Abbott Park,
Ill.

FOOTNOTES
* Corresponding
author. Mailing address: Department of Pathology WP 230, 619n South
19th St., Birmingham, AL 35249. Phone: (205) 934-4960. Fax: (205)
975-4468. E-mail:
waites{at}path.uab.edu.


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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, December 2003, p. 3973-3975, Vol. 47, No. 12
0066-4804/03/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/AAC.47.12.3973-3975.2003
Copyright © 2003, American
Society for
Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
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