Abstract

Background <i>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</i> (Mtb) is resistant to the β-lactam antibiotics due to a non-classical transpeptidase in the cell wall with β-lactamase activity. A recent study showed that meropenem combined with a β-lactamase inhibitor clavulanate, was effective in MDR and XDR tuberculosis (TB). However, clavulanate can only be used in drugs containing amoxicillin in Korea. In this study, we investigated the susceptibility and genetic mutations of drug-resistant Mtb isolates to amoxicillin-clavulanate and meropenem-clavulanate to improve the diagnosis and treatment of drug-resistant TB patients.Methods The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of amoxicillin-clavulanate and meropenem-clavulanate was examined by resazurin microtiter assay. We used 82 MDR and 40 XDR strains isolated in Korea and two reference laboratory strains. Mutations of drug targets <i>blaC, blaI, ldtA, ldtB, dacB2</i>, and <i>crfA</i> were analyzed by PCR and DNA sequencing.Results The MIC₉₀ values of amoxicillin and meropenem with clavulanate in drug-resistant Mtb isolates were 64 and 16, respectively. Gene mutations related to amoxicillin/clavulanate and meropenem/clavulanate resistance could not be identified, but T448G mutation of was found in the <i>blaC</i> gene related to β-lactam antibiotics high susceptibility.Conclusion Our results provide clinical consideration of β-lactams in treating drug-resistant TB and potential molecular markers of amoxicillin-clavulanate and meropenem-clavulanate susceptibility.