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Alpha and Beta Chains of Hemoglobin Inhibit Production of Staphylococcus aureus Exotoxins
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Alpha and Beta Chains of Hemoglobin Inhibit Production of Staphylococcus aureus Exotoxins

Patrick M Schlievert, Laura C Case, Kimberly A Nemeth, Catherine C Davis, Yiping Sun, Wendy Qin, Fancheng Wang, Amanda J Brosnahan, John A Mleziva, Marnie L Peterson, …
Biochemistry (Easton), Vol.46(50), pp.14349-14358
12/18/2007
DOI: 10.1021/bi701202w
PMCID: PMC2435367
PMID: 18020451
url
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/2435367View
Open Access

Abstract

Prior studies suggest Staphylococcus aureus exotoxins are not produced when the organism is cultured in human blood. Human blood was fractionated into plasma and water-lysed red blood cells and demonstrated that mixtures of α and β globins of hemoglobin (as low as 1 ug/ml) inhibited S. aureus exotoxin production while increasing production of protein A and not affecting bacterial growth. Pepsin but not trypsin digestion destroyed the ability of α and β globin to inhibit exotoxin production. Exotoxin production by both methicillin-resistant and susceptible organisms was inhibited. Production of streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxin A by Streptococcus pyogenes was unaffected by α and β globin chains, but was inhibited when produced in S. aureus . Use of isogenic S. aureus strains suggested the targets of α and β globin chains, leading to inhibition of staphylococcal exotoxins, included the two component system SrrA-SrrB. Delta hemolysin production was also inhibited, suggesting the two component (and quorum sensing) system AgrA-AgrC was targeted. The α and β globin chains represent promising molecules to interfere with the pathogenesis of serious staphylococcal diseases.

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