Streptococcal Cysteine Protease-Mediated Cleavage of Desmogleins Is Involved in the Pathogenesis of Cutaneous Infection

• Main Authors: Tomoko Sumitomo, Yasushi Mori, Yuumi Nakamura, Mariko Honda-Ogawa, Seitaro Nakagawa, Masaya Yamaguchi, Hiroyuki Matsue, Yutaka Terao, Masanobu Nakata, Shigetada Kawabata
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2018-01-01
• Series: Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology
• Subjects: Streptococcus pyogenes; epidermal barrier; cutaneous infection; desmogleins; SpeB
• Online Access: http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fcimb.2018.00010/full

Streptococcus pyogenes is responsible for a wide variety of cutaneous infections ranging from superficial impetigo to fulminant invasive necrotizing fasciitis. Dysfunction of desmosomes is associated with the pathogenesis of cutaneous diseases. We identified streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxin B (SpeB) as a proteolytic factor that cleaves the extracellular domains of desmoglein 1 and 3. In an epicutaneous infection model, lesional skin infected with an speB deletion mutant were significantly smaller as compared to those caused by the wild-type strain. Furthermore, immunohistological analysis indicated cleavage of desmogleins that developed around the invasion site of the wild-type strain. In contrast, the speB mutant was preferentially found on the epidermis surface layer. Taken together, our findings provide evidence that SpeB-mediated degradation of desmosomes has a pathogenic role in development of S. pyogenes cutaneous infection.