Journal article

Staphylococcus aureus induces cell-surface expression of immune stimulatory NKG2D ligands on human monocytes

M Mellergaard, RI Høgh, A Lund, BI Aldana, R Guérillot, SH Møller, AS Hayes, N Panagiotopoulou, Z Frimand, SD Jepsen, CHF Hansen, L Andresen, AR Larsen, AY Peleg, TP Stinear, BP Howden, HS Waagepetersen, D Frees, S Skov

Journal of Biological Chemistry | ELSEVIER | Published : 2020

Open access

Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus is among the leading causes of bacterial infections worldwide. The pathogenicity and establishment of S. aureus infections are tightly linked to its ability to modulate host immunity. Persistent infections are often associated with mutant staphylococcal strains that have decreased susceptibility to antibiotics; however, little is known about how these mutations influence bacterial interaction with the host immune system. Here, we discovered that clinical S. aureus isolates activate human monocytes, leading to cell-surface expression of immune stimulatory natural killer group 2D (NKG2D) ligands on the monocytes. We found that expression of the NKG2D ligand ULBP2 (UL16-bi..

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