Contribution of Staphylococcal Enterotoxin B to Staphylococcus aureus Systemic Infection.
J Infect Dis
; 223(10): 1766-1775, 2021 05 28.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-32937658
ABSTRACT
Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB), which is produced by the major human pathogen, Staphylococcus aureus, represents a powerful superantigenic toxin and is considered a bioweapon. However, the contribution of SEB to S. aureus pathogenesis has never been directly demonstrated with genetically defined mutants in clinically relevant strains. Many isolates of the predominant Asian community-associated methicillin-resistant S. aureus lineage sequence type (ST) 59 harbor seb, implying a significant role of SEB in the observed hypervirulence of this lineage. We created an isogenic seb mutant in a representative ST59 isolate and assessed its virulence potential in mouse infection models. We detected a significant contribution of seb to systemic ST59 infection that was associated with a cytokine storm. Our results directly demonstrate that seb contributes to S. aureus pathogenesis, suggesting the value of including SEB as a target in multipronged antistaphylococcal drug development strategies. Furthermore, they indicate that seb contributes to fatal exacerbation of community-associated methicillin-resistant S. aureus infection.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Staphylococcal Infections
/
Enterotoxins
Limits:
Animals
Language:
En
Journal:
J Infect Dis
Year:
2021
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United States