D Joseph, A J Theron, C Feldman, R Anderson, G R Tintinger
The recent global resurgence of severe infections caused by the Group A streptococcus (GAS) pathogen, Streptococcus pyogenes , has focused attention on this microbial pathogen, which produces an array of virulence factors, such as the pore-forming toxin, streptolysin O (SOT). Importantly, the interactions of SOT with human neutrophils (PMN), are not well understood. The current study was designed to investigate the effects of pretreatment of isolated human PMN with purified SOT on several pro-inflammatory activities, including generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), degranulation (elastase release), influx of extracellular calcium (Ca2+ ) and release of extracellular DNA (NETosis), using chemiluminescence, spectrophotometric and fluorimetric procedures, respectively...
December 2024: Journal of Immunotoxicology