Staphylococcus sciuri exfoliative toxin C (ExhC) is a necrosis-inducer for mammalian cells

• Published in: PloS one 2011-07, Vol.6 (7), p.e23145
• Main Authors: Li, Haihua, Wang, Yongqiang, Ding, Lin, Zheng, Shijun J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agriculture; Amino acids; Animal models; Animals; Animals, Newborn; Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived - immunology; Apoptosis; Autoimmune diseases; Biological activity; Biology; Blotting, Western; Caspases - metabolism; Cell death; Cell lines; Cells (Biology); Cells, Cultured; Cloning, Molecular; Dermotoxins - genetics; Dermotoxins - metabolism; Disease; Epidemiology; Exfoliatins - antagonists & inhibitors; Exfoliatins - genetics; Exfoliatins - metabolism; Exudation; Female; Flow Cytometry; Functional analysis; Gangrene; Genomes; Health aspects; Hogs; Humans; Immunoglobulins; Infections; Laboratories; Lesions; Macrophages; Macrophages, Peritoneal - metabolism; Macrophages, Peritoneal - pathology; Mammalian cells; Medicine; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Monoclonal antibodies; Multiple myeloma; Necrosis; Pathogenicity; Pathogens; Peritoneum; Porphyromonas gingivalis; Proteins; Recombinant Proteins - genetics; Recombinant Proteins - immunology; Recombinant Proteins - metabolism; Skin; Skin diseases; Skin Diseases - metabolism; Skin Diseases - pathology; Staphylococcus; Staphylococcus infections; Swine; Toxins; Veterinary colleges; Veterinary medicine; Veterinary Science; Zoonoses
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0023145

Staphylococcus sciuri (S. sciuri) is a rare pathogen in humans, but it can cause a wide array of human infections. Recently a S. sciuri isolate (HBXX06) was reported to cause fatal exudative epidermitis (EE) in piglets and thus considered as a potential zoonotic agent. To investigate the pathogenicity of this bacterium, we cloned exfoliative toxin C (ExhC), a major toxin of the S. sciuri isolate and performed functional analysis of the recombinant ExhC-his (rExhC) protein using in vitro cell cultures and newborn mice as models. We found that rExhC could induce necrosis in multiple cell lines and peritoneal macrophages as well as skin lesions in newborn mice, and that the rExhC-induced necrosis in cells or skin lesions in newborn mice could be completely abolished if amino acids 79-128 of rExhC were deleted or blocked with a monoclonal antibody (3E4), indicating aa 79-128 portion as an essential necrosis-inducing domain. This information contributes to further understandings of the mechanisms underlying S. sciuri infection.