Abstract

MOLECULAR DETECTION OF ESCHERICHIA COLI VIRULENCE FACTORS ENCODING GENES IN LEUKAEMIC PATIENTS

*Dr. Mohemid M Al-Jebouri and Ali Mohammed Hasen

ABSTRACT

Background: Patients with haematologic malignancies such as leukemia are susceptible to infectious complications. The host is immunocompromised (neutrophil count reach less than 500 cells/ microlitre) because of both the underlying malignancy and the cytotoxic therapy employed to manage it ,as a result bacterial infections become important cause of morbidity and mortality. Methodology: The primers were selected to detect three of the most important and reported virulence genes (papC,hlyA and cnf-1) in Escherichia coli. The forward and reverse of papC primers target the gene encoding pili for adhesion, while the forward and reverse of hlyA primers target the gene encoded for α-haemolysin and the forward and reverse of cnf-1 primers target the gene encoded for cytotoxic necrotizing factor 1. Results: The presence of genes encoding the pili for adhesion,α-hemolysin and cytotoxic necrotizing factor-1 was detected using the multiplex polymerase chain reaction (MPCR) method with pairs of primers designed for the papC, hlyA, and cnf-1 genes described for Escherichia coli . Conclusion: High presence of virulent genes encoding for pilli among Escherichia coli isolates was detected.

Keywords: Leukaemia, E.coli, virulence genes, primers.