Telavancin in Therapy of Experimental Aortic Valve Endocarditis in Rabbits Due to Daptomycin-Nonsusceptible Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

A number of cases of both methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strains that have developed daptomycin resistance (DAP-R) have been reported. Telavancin (TLV) is a lipoglycopeptide agent with a dual mechanism of activity (cell wall synthesis inhibition plus depolarization of the bacterial cell membrane). Five recent daptomycin-susceptible (DAP-S)/DAP-R MRSA isogenic strain pairs were evaluated for in vitro TLV susceptibility. All five DAP-R strains (DAP MICs ranging from 2 to 4 μg/ml) were susceptible to TLV (MICs of ≤0.38 μg/ml). In vitro time-kill analyses also revealed that several TLV concentrations (1-, 2-, and 4-fold MICs) caused rapid killing against the DAP-R strains. Moreover, for 3 of 5 DAP-R strains (REF2145, A215, and B(2.0)), supra-MICs of TLV were effective at preventing regrowth at 24 h of incubation. Further, the combination of TLV plus oxacillin (at 0.25× or 0.50× MIC for each agent) increased killing of DAP-R MRSA strains REF2145 and A215 at 24 h (∼2-log and 5-log reductions versus TLV and oxacillin alone, respectively). Finally, using a rabbit model of aortic valve endocarditis caused by DAP-R strain REF2145, TLV therapy produced a mean reduction of >4.5 log(10) CFU/g in vegetations, kidneys, and spleen compared to untreated or DAP-treated rabbits. Moreover, TLV-treated rabbits had a significantly higher percentage of sterile tissue cultures (87% in vegetations and 100% in kidney and spleen) than all other treatment groups (P < 0.0001). Together, these results demonstrate that TLV has potent bactericidal activity in vitro and in vivo against DAP-R MRSA isolates.