{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]],"date-time":"2026-09-04T04:04:14Z","timestamp":1788494654897,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,9]],"date-time":"2025-04-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1744156800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100006595","name":"Romanian Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization, CNCS\/CCCDI\u2014UEFISCDI","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["PN-III-P1-1.1-PD-2019-1225"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PN-III-P1-1.1-PD-2019-1225"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100006595","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic inflammatory skin condition, primarily affecting young individuals, with a significant impact on their quality of life due to recurrent, painful nodules, abscesses, and oozing sinus tracts, primarily affecting intertriginous areas. The pathogenesis of HS is multifactorial, involving a complex interplay between genetic predisposition, immune dysregulation, microbial, and environmental factors. While it is known that cutaneous and gut microbiome contribute to innate immune dysregulation in HS, their precise involvement in disease pathogenesis remains unclear. Despite several studies investigating the microbiome of HS lesions, either by culture-dependent or independent methods, there is no data available on the interplay between bacterial virulence profiles, clinical manifestations, and the host immune response. This study aimed to explore the phenotypic and genotypic resistance and virulence profiles of microorganisms isolated from HS lesions (including the expression of soluble virulence factors and the ability to develop biofilms), with a special focus on Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), one of the most frequent infectious agents of HS. A total of 92 bacterial strains, belonging to 20 different bacterial species, were isolated from the HS lesions of 23 patients. The strains of Staphylococcus, Corynebacterium, and Enterococcus expressed the highest levels of soluble virulence factors, such as hemolysins, lecithinase, and lipase, which are involved in bacterial persistence, local invasivity, and tissue damage. Moreover, a significant variation among bacterial species was noted regarding the capacity to develop biofilms, with a potential impact on disease chronicization, bacterial tolerance to antibiotics, and immune defense mechanisms. The genetic characterization of methicillin-resistant staphylococci revealed the presence of adhesins, hemolysin and enterotoxin genes as well as methicillin and macrolides resistance genes. Our findings highlight the critical role of virulence determinants, including bacterial biofilms, in HS pathogenesis, emphasizing the need for targeted therapeutic strategies to disrupt biofilms and mitigate infection severity.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms26083502","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,9]],"date-time":"2025-04-09T05:03:07Z","timestamp":1744174987000},"page":"3502","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Phenotypic and Genotypic Bacterial Virulence and Resistance Profiles in Hidradenitis Suppurativa"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"26","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3097-846X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Corina Ioana","family":"Cucu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Oncologic Dermatology, \u201cElias\u201d Emergency University Hospital, \u201cCarol Davila\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 020021 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"C\u0103lin","family":"Giurc\u0103neanu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Oncologic Dermatology, \u201cElias\u201d Emergency University Hospital, \u201cCarol Davila\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 020021 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6414-0841","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Elena","family":"Poenaru","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Informatics and Biostatistics, \u201cCarol Davila\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 020021 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1702-7280","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Liliana Gabriela","family":"Popa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Oncologic Dermatology, \u201cElias\u201d Emergency University Hospital, \u201cCarol Davila\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 020021 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0794-9329","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mircea Ioan","family":"Popa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology II, \u201cCantacuzino\u201d Institute, \u201cCarol Davila\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 020021 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6098-1857","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mariana Carmen","family":"Chifiriuc","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Institute of the University of Bucharest-ICUB, University of Bucharest, 050663 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Veronica","family":"Laz\u0103r","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Institute of the University of Bucharest-ICUB, University of Bucharest, 050663 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alina Maria","family":"Holban","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Institute of the University of Bucharest-ICUB, University of Bucharest, 050663 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Irina","family":"Gheorghe-Barbu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Institute of the University of Bucharest-ICUB, University of Bucharest, 050663 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4124-2909","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andrei-Alexandru","family":"Muntean","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology II, \u201cCantacuzino\u201d Institute, \u201cCarol Davila\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 020021 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3867-9122","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Costin \u0218tefan","family":"Caracoti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology II, \u201cCantacuzino\u201d Institute, \u201cCarol Davila\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 020021 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1436-0088","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mara M\u0103d\u0103lina","family":"Mihai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Oncologic Dermatology, \u201cElias\u201d Emergency University Hospital, \u201cCarol Davila\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 020021 Bucharest, Romania"},{"name":"Research Institute of the University of Bucharest-ICUB, University of Bucharest, 050663 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"868","article-title":"S2k guideline for the treatment of hidradenitis suppurativa\/acne inversa\u2014Short version","volume":"22","author":"Zouboulis","year":"2024","journal-title":"J. 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