Commonly invasive serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae trigger a reduced innate immune response compared with serotypes rarely responsible for invasive infection

• Published in: FEMS immunology and medical microbiology 2008-06, Vol.53 (1), p.136-139
• Main Authors: Burgess, Thomas S.T, Hirschfeld, Aaron F, Tyrrell, Gregory J, Bettinger, Julie A, Turvey, Stuart E
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Bacteriology; Biological and medical sciences; Cell Line; Child; Child, Preschool; Clinical isolates; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Human behavior; Humans; Immune response; Immune system; immunity; Immunity, Innate - immunology; Infant; Innate immunity; Macrophages; Macrophages - immunology; Macrophages - microbiology; Microbiology; Miscellaneous; Monocytes; Pneumococcal Infections - immunology; Pneumococcal Infections - microbiology; pneumococcus; Serotypes; Streptococcus infections; Streptococcus pneumoniae; Streptococcus pneumoniae - immunology; Streptococcus pneumoniae - pathogenicity; TNF-α; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha - immunology; Tumor necrosis factor-TNF; Tumor necrosis factor-α; Vaccines
• ISSN: 0928-8244; 1574-695X; 2049-632X
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1574-695X.2008.00382.x

Although there are more than 90 serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae (or pneumococcus), it is not understood why a small number of serotypes account for most invasive infections. To investigate the human innate immune response triggered by different pneumococcal serotypes, monocyte-derived macrophages were exposed to a group of commonly and rarely invasive pneumococcal clinical isolates and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α production was measured. Commonly invasive pneumococcal serotypes triggered significantly less TNF-α production than serotypes rarely responsible for invasive infection (P