Abstract
Group A Streptococcus (GAS) produces an extracellular cysteine protease (streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxin B) that participates in virulence. We examined two pairs of isogenic GAS strains (serotype M2 and M3) for ability to be internalized by human umbilical vein endothelial cells and A549 human lung fibroblasts. For both host cell types, the level of internalization by the cysteine protease-negative mutant strains was significantly greater than the wild type parent organisms. The data suggest that expression of the cysteine protease contributes to extracellular survival, an observation consistent with recent results from mouse infection studies.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 333-339 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Microbial Pathogenesis |
Volume | 24 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jun 1998 |
Keywords
- Cysteine protease
- Internalization
- Streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxin B (SpeB)
- Streptococcus pyogenes
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Microbiology
- Infectious Diseases