Staphylococcus aureus is an opportunistic pathogen causing osteomyelitis through hematogenous seeding or contamination of implants and open wounds following orthopedic surgeries. The severity of S. aureus-mediated osteomyelitis is enhanced in obesity-related type 2 diabetes (obesity/T2D) due to chronic inflammation impairing both adaptive and innate immunity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFinvasion of the osteocyte lacuno-canalicular network (OLCN) is a novel mechanism of bacterial persistence and immune evasion in chronic osteomyelitis. Previous work highlighted cell wall transpeptidase, penicillin binding protein 4 (PBP4), and surface adhesin, surface protein C (SasC), as critical factors for bacterial deformation and propagation through nanopores , representative of the confined canaliculi . Given these findings, we hypothesized that cell wall synthesis machinery and surface adhesins enable durotaxis- and haptotaxis-guided invasion of the OLCN, respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFis an opportunistic pathogen with a clinical spectrum ranging from asymptomatic skin colonization to invasive infections. While traditional antibiotic therapies can be effective against , the increasing prevalence of antibiotic-resistant strains results in treatment failures and high mortality rates. Photodynamic inactivation (PDI) is an innovative and promising alternative to antibiotics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStaphylococcus aureus infection of bone is challenging to treat because it colonizes the osteocyte lacuno-canalicular network (OLCN) of cortical bone. To elucidate factors involved in OLCN invasion and identify novel drug targets, we completed a hypothesis-driven screen of 24 S. aureus transposon insertion mutant strains for their ability to propagate through 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOsteomyelitis is a devastating disease caused by microbial infection of bone. While the frequency of infection following elective orthopedic surgery is low, rates of reinfection are disturbingly high. is responsible for the majority of chronic osteomyelitis cases and is often considered to be incurable due to bacterial persistence deep within bone.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStaphylococcus aureus osteomyelitis is a devasting disease that often leads to amputation. Recent findings have shown that S. aureus is capable of invading the osteocyte lacuno-canalicular network (OLCN) of cortical bone during chronic osteomyelitis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFcauses a wide spectrum of disease, with the site and severity of infection dependent on virulence traits encoded within genetically distinct clonal complexes (CCs) and bacterial responses to host innate immunity. The production of nitric oxide (NO) by activated phagocytes is a major host response to which metabolically adapts through multiple strategies that are conserved in all CCs, including an nitric oxide synthase (Nos). Previous genome analysis of CC30, a lineage associated with chronic endocardial and osteoarticular infections, revealed a putative NO reductase (Nor) not found in other CCs that potentially contributes to NO resistance and clinical outcome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnterococcus faecalis is a member of the intestinal and oral microbiota that may affect the etiology of colorectal and oral cancers. The mechanisms by which E. faecalis may contribute to the initiation and progression of these cancers remain uncertain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe majority of newborns screening positive for Krabbe disease have not exhibited the expected early infantile phenotype, with most clinically normal despite low galactocerebrosidase activity and two mutations. Most are expected to develop the later onset phenotypes. The World-Wide Krabbe Registry was developed in part to expand our understanding of the natural history of these rare variants.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCocolonization of human mucosal surfaces causes frequent encounters between various staphylococcal species, creating opportunities for the horizontal acquisition of mobile genetic elements. The majority of Staphylococcus aureus toxins and virulence factors are encoded on S. aureus pathogenicity islands (SaPIs).
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