The bacterial pathogen Staphylococcus aureus seeds abscesses in host tissues to replicate at the center of these lesions, protected from host immune cells via a pseudocapsule. Using histochemical staining, we identified prothrombin and fibrin within abscesses and pseudocapsules. S. aureus secretes two clotting factors, coagulase (Coa) and von Willebrand factor binding protein (vWbp). We report here that Coa and vWbp together are required for the formation of abscesses. Coa and vWbp promote the non-proteolytic activation of prothrombin and cleavage of fibrinogen, reactions that are inhibited with specific antibody against each of these molecules. Coa and vWbp specific antibodies confer protection against abscess formation and S. aureus lethal bacteremia, suggesting that coagulases function as protective antigens for a staphylococcal vaccine.
Details
Title
Contribution of Coagulases towards Staphylococcus aureus Disease and Protective Immunity
Author
Cheng, Alice G. : University of Chicago McAdow, Molly : University of Chicago Kim, Hwan K. : University of Chicago Bae, Taeok : Indiana University-Northwest Missiakas, Dominique M. : University of Chicago Schneewind, Olaf : University of Chicago
Funding Information
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, AI52747 National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, AI52767 Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics National Institutes of Health, Medical Scientist Training Program, GM07281 National Institutes of Health, Graduate Training in Growth and Development, HD009007 National Institutes of Health, Region V “Great Lakes” Regional Center of Excellence in Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Consortium, 1-U54-AI-057153
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.