Staphylokinase promotes the establishment of Staphylococcus aureus skin infections while decreasing disease severity.
|
| Abstract |
Skin infections are frequently caused by Staphylococcus aureus and can lead to a fatal sepsis. The microbial mechanisms controlling the initiation and progression from mild skin infection to a severe disseminated infection remain poorly understood. Using a combination of clinical data and in vitro and ex vivo assays, we show that staphylokinase, secreted by S. aureus, promoted the establishment of skin infections in humans and increased bacterial penetration through skin barriers by activating plasminogen. However, when infection was established, the interaction between staphylokinase and plasminogen did not promote systemic dissemination but induced the opening and draining of abscesses and decreased disease severity in neutropenic mice. Also, increased staphylokinase production was associated with noninvasive S. aureus infections in patients. Our results point out the dual roles of staphylokinase in S. aureus skin infections as promoting the establishment of infections while decreasing disease severity.
|
|---|---|
| Authors | Jakub Kwiecinski, Gunnar Jacobsson, Maria Karlsson, Xuefeng Zhu, Wanzhong Wang, Tomas Bremell, Elisabet Josefsson, Tao Jin |
| Journal | The Journal of infectious diseases (J Infect Dis) Vol. 208 Issue 6 Pg. 990-9 (Sep 2013) ISSN: 1537-6613 [Electronic] United States |
| PMID | 23801604 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't) |
| Chemical References |
|
| Topics |
|
Join CureHunter, for free Research Interface BASIC access!
Realize the full power of the drug-disease research graph!