@article{WippelFoertschHuppetal.2011,
  author    = {Wippel, Carolin and F{\"o}rtsch, Christina and Hupp, Sabrina and Maier, Elke and Benz, Roland and Ma, Jiangtao and Mitchell, Timothy J and Iliev, Asparouh I},
  title     = {Extracellular Calcium Reduction Strongly Increases the Lytic Capacity of Pneumolysin From Streptococcus Pneumoniae in Brain Tissue},
  series = {The Journal of Infectious Diseases},
  volume    = {204},
  journal   = {The Journal of Infectious Diseases},
  number    = {6},
  doi       = {10.1093/infdis/jir434},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-139356},
  pages     = {930-936},
  year      = {2011},
  abstract  = {Background Streptococcus pneumoniae causes serious diseases such as pneumonia and meningitis. Its major pathogenic factor is the cholesterol-dependent cytolysin pneumolysin, which produces lytic pores at high concentrations. At low concentrations, it has other effects, including induction of apoptosis. Many cellular effects of pneumolysin appear to be calcium dependent. Methods  Live imaging of primary mouse astroglia exposed to sublytic amounts of pneumolysin at various concentrations of extracellular calcium was used to measure changes in cellular permeability (as judged by lactate dehydrogenase release and propidium iodide chromatin staining). Individual pore properties were analyzed by conductance across artificial lipid bilayer. Tissue toxicity was studied in continuously oxygenated acute brain slices. Results  The reduction of extracellular calcium increased the lytic capacity of the toxin due to increased membrane binding. Reduction of calcium did not influence the conductance properties of individual toxin pores. In acute cortical brain slices, the reduction of extracellular calcium from 2 to 1 mM conferred lytic activity to pathophysiologically relevant nonlytic concentrations of pneumolysin. Conclusions  Reduction of extracellular calcium strongly enhanced the lytic capacity of pneumolysin due to increased membrane binding. Thus, extracellular calcium concentration should be considered as a factor of primary importance for the course of pneumococcal meningitis. "},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{AngelikaRolandoBeitzingeretal.2011,
  author    = {Angelika, Kronhardt and Rolando, Monica and Beitzinger, Christoph and Stefani, Caroline and Leuber, Michael and Flatau, Gilles and Popoff, Michel R. and Benz, Roland and Lemichez, Emmanuel},
  title     = {Cross-Reactivity of Anthrax and C2 Toxin: Protective Antigen Promotes the Uptake of Botulinum C2I Toxin into Human Endothelial Cells},
  series = {PLoS ONE},
  volume    = {6},
  journal   = {PLoS ONE},
  number    = {8},
  doi       = {10.1371/journal.pone.0023133},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-134791},
  pages     = {e23133},
  year      = {2011},
  abstract  = {Binary toxins are among the most potent bacterial protein toxins performing a cooperative mode of translocation and exhibit fatal enzymatic activities in eukaryotic cells. Anthrax and C2 toxin are the most prominent examples for the AB(7/8) type of toxins. The B subunits bind both host cell receptors and the enzymatic A polypeptides to trigger their internalization and translocation into the host cell cytosol. C2 toxin is composed of an actin ADP-ribosyltransferase (C2I) and C2II binding subunits. Anthrax toxin is composed of adenylate cyclase (EF) and MAPKK protease (LF) enzymatic components associated to protective antigen (PA) binding subunit. The binding and translocation components anthrax protective antigen (PA(63)) and C2II of C2 toxin share a sequence homology of about 35\%, suggesting that they might substitute for each other. Here we show by conducting in vitro measurements that PA(63) binds C2I and that C2II can bind both EF and LF. Anthrax edema factor (EF) and lethal factor (LF) have higher affinities to bind to channels formed by C2II than C2 toxin's C2I binds to anthrax protective antigen (PA(63)). Furthermore, we could demonstrate that PA in high concentration has the ability to transport the enzymatic moiety C2I into target cells, causing actin modification and cell rounding. In contrast, C2II does not show significant capacity to promote cell intoxication by EF and LF. Together, our data unveiled the remarkable flexibility of PA in promoting C2I heterologous polypeptide translocation into cells.},
  language  = {de}
}
@article{FoertschHuppMaetal.2011,
  author    = {F{\"o}rtsch, Christina and Hupp, Sabrina and Ma, Jiangtao and Mitchell, Timothy J. and Maier, Elke and Benz, Roland and Iliev, Asparouh I.},
  title     = {Changes in Astrocyte Shape Induced by Sublytic Concentrations of the Cholesterol-Dependent Cytolysin Pneumolysin Still Require Pore-Forming Capacity},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-69084},
  year      = {2011},
  abstract  = {Streptococcus pneumoniae is a common pathogen that causes various infections, such as sepsis and meningitis. A major pathogenic factor of S. pneumoniae is the cholesterol-dependent cytolysin, pneumolysin. It produces cell lysis at high concentrations and apoptosis at lower concentrations. We have shown that sublytic amounts of pneumolysin induce small GTPase-dependent actin cytoskeleton reorganization and microtubule stabilization in human neuroblastoma cells that are manifested by cell retraction and changes in cell shape. In this study, we utilized a live imaging approach to analyze the role of pneumolysin's pore-forming capacity in the actin-dependent cell shape changes in primary astrocytes. After the initial challenge with the wild-type toxin, a permeabilized cell population was rapidly established within 20-40 minutes. After the initial rapid permeabilization, the size of the permeabilized population remained unchanged and reached a plateau. Thus, we analyzed the non-permeabilized (non-lytic) population, which demonstrated retraction and shape changes that were inhibited by actin depolymerization. Despite the non-lytic nature of pneumolysin treatment, the toxin's lytic capacity remained critical for the initiation of cell shape changes. The non-lytic pneumolysin mutants W433F-pneumolysin and delta6-pneumolysin, which bind the cell membrane with affinities similar to that of the wild-type toxin, were not able to induce shape changes. The initiation of cell shape changes and cell retraction by the wild-type toxin were independent of calcium and sodium influx and membrane depolarization, which are known to occur following cellular challenge and suggested to result from the ion channel-like properties of the pneumolysin pores. Excluding the major pore-related phenomena as the initiation mechanism of cell shape changes, the existence of a more complex relationship between the pore-forming capacity of pneumolysin and the actin cytoskeleton reorganization is suggested.},
  subject      = {Toxikologie},
  language  = {en}
}