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Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, July 2002, p. 892-897, Vol. 9, No. 4
1071-412X/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/CDLI.9.4.892-897.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Induction of Cytokines by Glucosyltransferases of Streptococcus mutans

Graduate Institute of Microbiology,¹ Graduate Institute of Oral Biology, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University,³ Department of Infectious Diseases,⁴ Department of Dentistry, National Taiwan University Hospital,² National Health Research Institute, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China⁵

Received 28 February 2002/ Returned for modification 16 April 2002/ Accepted 7 May 2002

Production of proinflammatory cytokines is implicated in the pathogenesis of viridans streptococcus-induced -streptococcal shock syndrome and infective endocarditis. Streptococcus mutans, one of the opportunistic pathogens causing infective endocarditis, was reported previously to stimulate monocytes and epithelial and endothelial cells in vitro to produce various cytokines. We found that glucosyltransferases (GTFs) GtfC and GtfD of S. mutans stimulated predominantly the production of interleukin-6 (IL-6) from T cells cultured in vitro. The level of IL-6 but not of tumor necrosis factor alpha in blood was significantly elevated when rats were injected intravenously with S. mutans GS-5, whereas IL-6 was detected at a much lower level when rats were challenged with NHS1DD, an isogenic mutant defective in the expression of GTFs. The serum IL-6 level was elevated in patients with endocarditis caused by different species of viridans streptococci which express GTF homologues. Affinity column-purified GTFs reduced the levels of detectable IL-2 of T cells stimulated by another bacterial antigen, tetanus toxoid. These results suggested that GTFs might modulate the production of Th1-type cytokines and that GTFs of S. mutans play a significant role in stimulating the production of the proinflammatory cytokine IL-6 in vivo.

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