Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilms induce lower complement activation in neonates as compared with adults.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Staphylococcus epidermidis (SE) is an important cause of late-onset sepsis in neonates. SE frequently produces a polysaccharide intercellular adhesin (PIA) biofilm, important in the pathogenesis of these infections. Little is known about how the neonatal innate immune system reacts to SE biofilm-associated infections. Our hypothesis was that SE biofilms induce a lower complement activation in neonates as compared with adults.

METHODS:

Cord blood from term infants (n = 15) and blood from adults (n = 6) were studied in an ex vivo whole-blood sepsis model. A PIA biofilm-producing strain (SE1457) and its isogenic mutant (M10), producing a non-PIA biofilm, were used.

RESULTS:

Both SE biofilms induced stronger complement activation in adult than in cord blood (P ≤ 0.033). We found lower levels of antibodies toward both PIA (P = 0.002) and the whole bacterium (P = 0.001) in cord vs. adult blood. By contrast, the interleukin-8 (IL-8) and IL-6 secretion were higher in cord than in adult blood (P ≤ 0.002). The PIA biofilm induced stronger complement activation than the non-PIA biofilm.

CONCLUSION:

We conclude that the neonatal complement system exhibits a maturational deficiency. This may reduce the ability of neonates to combat biofilm-associated SE infections.

• Authors: Hildegunn N Granslo, Claus Klingenberg, Elizabeth A Fredheim, Ganesh Acharya, Tom Eirik Mollnes, Trond Flægstad
• Journal: Pediatric research (Pediatr Res) Vol. 73 Issue 3 Pg. 294-300 (Mar 2013) ISSN: 1530-0447 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 23232670 (Publication Type: Comparative Study, Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Interleukin-6
• Interleukin-8
• Polysaccharides, Bacterial
• polysaccharide intercellular adhesin

Topics

• Adult
• Biofilms
• Complement Activation (immunology)
• Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
• Fetal Blood (immunology)
• Humans
• Infant, Newborn
• Interleukin-6 (immunology)
• Interleukin-8 (immunology)
• Polysaccharides, Bacterial (metabolism)
• Staphylococcal Infections (blood, immunology)
• Staphylococcus epidermidis (immunology)
• Statistics, Nonparametric