Activity of ceftaroline against Enterococcus faecium PBP5

Abstract

The opportunistic human pathogen Enterococcus faecium overproduces the low-affinity PBP5. In clinical strains, mutations in PBP5 further reduce its acylation rate by =-lactams. Previous studies have reported that ceftaroline had poor inhibitory activity against =-lactam-resistant E. faecium strains. In this study, we show that ceftaroline exhibits killing activity against our laboratory- derived ampicillin-resistant E. faecium mutant that overproduces a wild-type PBP5 and that ceftaroline inactivates PBP5 much faster than benzylpenicillin and faster than ceftobiprole. Copyright © 2013 White.