Clinical Laboratory | The Latest Achievement of Prof. Wang Hui's Team Published in Drug Resistance Updates
揭秘“超级细菌”进化机制，王辉教授团队最新成果在国际权威期刊发表

2024-05-16

Recently, Professor Wang Hui's team from Peking University People's Hospital (PKUPH) published their latest research titled "Expansion and transmission dynamics of high-risk carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae subclones in China: An epidemiological, spatial, genomic analysis" online in Drug Resistance Updates (IF=24.3). The study lists Associate Senior Technologist Wang Qi from the Department of Clinical Laboratory, PKUPH, Associate Research Fellow Wang Ruobing, Ph.D. students Wang Shuyi and Zhang Anru as co-first authors, with Professor Wang Hui from the same department as the corresponding author.

Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE), particularly Carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP), is a major global public health threat that causes epidemics with high mortality rates. In China, CRKP is a major species of "superbugs". Once infected, treatment becomes extremely challenging due to multidrug resistance and high mortality rates.

This study is part of the China's Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales Network (CRE Network). A total of 6,609 CRE bacteria from 96 hospitals in 28 provinces and municipalities participating in the CRE-Network project from 2011 to 2021 were collected, including 4,718 CRKP strains, of which ST11 CRKP accounted for 75%. Through large-scale longitudinal studies, the research team revealed that the epidemic clone ST11 of the "superbug" CRKP, likely originated from the Americas and was introduced to China around 2010. The ST11 CRKP has evolveda high-risk subclone named the "BMPPS" mutants in China. The team investigated its significant expansion and driving factors for evolution.

The study indicates the high-risk ST11 CRKP subclone showed strong expansion potential and survival advantages, probably owing to genetic factors "BMPPS" mutations in China, which also pose serious clinical hazards. At the same time, it also suggests that BMPPS could become an important target for future diagnosis and treatment.

Paper Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1368764624000414?via%3Dihub

News Source: the Department of Clinical Laboratory 

Rewritten by Gao Yanbing

Thanks for the assistance in proofreading from the Department of Clinical Laboratory.