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Diversity of pneumococcal surface protein A (PspA) and relation to sequence typing in Streptococcus pneumoniae causing invasive disease in Chinese children

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Abstract

The objective of this paper was to investigate the sequence types (STs) and diversity of surface antigen pneumococcal surface protein A (PspA) in 171 invasive Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates from Chinese children. A total of 171 pneumococci isolates were isolated from Chinese children with invasive pneumococcal diseases (IPD) in 11 hospitals between 2006 and 2008. The pneumococci samples were characterized by serotyping, PspA classification, and multilocus sequence typing (MLST). The PspA of these strains could be assigned to two families. The PspA family 2 was the most common (120/171, 70.1%). No PspA family 3 isolates were detected. Family 1 could be subdivided into two clades, with 42 strains in clade 1 and 9 strains in clade 2, and family 2 could be subdivided into clades 3, 4, and 5, which respectively contained 5, 21, and 14 strains. In total, 65 STs were identified, of which ST320 (30/171, 17.5%), ST271 (23/171, 13.5%), and ST876 (18/171, 10.5%) were the most common types. PspA family 2 and family 1 were dominant among pneumococcal clones isolated from Chinese children with invasive disease. The strains with the same ST always presented in the same PspA family.

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Acknowledgments

We thank all of the participants from the 11 hospitals and the Lanzhou Vaccine Institute.

Financial support

We acknowledge support from the Ministry of Science and Technology (grant 2008BA166B01), National Natural Science Funds of the People’s Republic of China (grant 30801259), and a Beijing guidance teacher technology grant for excellent doctoral thesis (grant YB20091002502).

Potential conflicts of interest

None of the authors had a conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Major Diseases in Children and National Key Discipline of Pediatrics (Capital Medical University), Ministry of Education, Beijing Pediatric Research Institute, Beijing Children’s Hospital, Capital Medical University, Nan Lishi Road, Beijing, 100045, China

    J. Qian, K. Yao, L. Xue, S. Yu, Y.-W. Tang & Y. Yang

  2. Lanzhou Institute of Biological Products, Lanzhou, China

    G. Xie

  3. Shenzhen Children’s Hospital, Shenzhen, China

    Y. Zheng

  4. Pediatric Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    C. Wang

  5. Shengjing Hospital Affiliated to China Medical University, Shenyang, China

    Y. Shang

  6. Nanjing Children’s Hospital, Nanjing, China

    H. Wang

  7. Tianjin Children’s Hospital, Tianjin, China

    L. Wan

  8. Chongqing Children’s Hospital Affiliated to Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China

    L. Liu

  9. Yuying Children’s Hospital, Wenzhou Medical College, Wenzhou, China

    C. Li

  10. Suzhou University Pediatric Hospital, Suzhou, China

    W. Ji

  11. Anhui Medical University Affiliated Hospital, Anhui, China

    Y. Wang

  12. First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Xinjiang, China

    P. Xu

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  1. J. Qian
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  2. K. Yao
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  3. L. Xue
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  4. G. Xie
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  5. Y. Zheng
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  6. C. Wang
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  7. Y. Shang
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  8. H. Wang
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  9. L. Wan
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  10. L. Liu
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  11. C. Li
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  12. W. Ji
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  13. Y. Wang
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  14. P. Xu
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  15. S. Yu
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  16. Y.-W. Tang
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  17. Y. Yang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Y. Yang.

Additional information

Jing Qian, Kaihu Yao, and Lian Xue have the same contribution to this paper as the first authors.

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Qian, J., Yao, K., Xue, L. et al. Diversity of pneumococcal surface protein A (PspA) and relation to sequence typing in Streptococcus pneumoniae causing invasive disease in Chinese children. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 31, 217–223 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-011-1296-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-011-1296-9

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