Mannose-binding Lectin-deficient Mice Are Susceptible to Infection with Staphylococcus aureus

• DOI: 10.1084/jem.20032207
• Publication Date: 2004-05-17T18:43:01Z
• Authors: Lei Shi; Kazue Takahashi; Joseph Dundee; Sarit Shahroor-Karni; Steffen Thiel; Jens Christian Je...; Faten Gad; Michael R. Hamblin; Kedarnath N. Sastry; R. Alan B. Ezekowitz
• Keywords: DNA, Bacterial; Mice, Knockout; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Staphylococcal Infections; Mannose-Binding Lectin; Article; 3. Good health; Mice; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Reference Values; Animals; Disease Susceptibility; Lung; Spleen

Gram-positive organisms like Staphylococcus aureus are a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Humoral response molecules together with phagocytes play a role in host responses to S. aureus. The mannose-binding lectin (MBL, also known as mannose-binding protein) is an oligomeric serum molecule that recognizes carbohydrates decorating a broad range of infectious agents including S. aureus. Circumstantial evidence in vitro and in vivo suggests that MBL plays a key role in first line host defense. We tested this contention directly in vivo by generating mice that were devoid of all MBL activity. We found that 100% of MBL-null mice died 48 h after exposure to an intravenous inoculation of S. aureus compared with 45% mortality in wild-type mice. Furthermore, we demonstrated that neutrophils and MBL are required to limit intraperitoneal infection with S. aureus. Our study provides direct evidence that MBL plays a key role in restricting the complications associated with S. aureus infection in mice and raises the idea that the MBL gene may act as a disease susceptibility gene against staphylococci infections in humans.