0000000000794579
AUTHOR
Gerard Lina
Serological biomarkers for the diagnosis of Mycobacterium abscessus infections in cystic fibrosis patients
International audience; Background: Culture conditions sometimes make it difficult to detect non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), particularly Mycobacterium abscessus, an emerging cystic fibrosis (CF) pathogen. The diagnosis of NTM positive cases not detected by classical culture methods might benefit from the development of a serological assay.Methods: As part of a diagnostic accuracy study, a total of 173 sera CF-patients, including 33 patients with M. abscessus positive cultures, and 31 non-CF healthy controls (HC) were evaluated. Four M. abscessus antigens were used separately, comprising two surface extracts (Interphase (INP) and a TLR2 positive extract (TLR2eF)) and two recombinant pro…
Relationships between Staphylococcus aureus genetic background, virulence factors, agr groups (alleles), and human disease
ABSTRACT The expression of most Staphylococcus aureus virulence factors is controlled by the agr locus, which encodes a two-component signaling pathway whose activating ligand is an agr -encoded autoinducing peptide (AIP). A polymorphism in the amino acid sequence of the AIP and of its corresponding receptor divides S. aureus strains into four major groups. Within a given group, each strain produces a peptide that can activate the agr response in the other member strains, whereas the AIPs belonging to different groups are usually mutually inhibitory. We investigated a possible relationship between agr groups and human S. aureus disease by studying 198 S. aureus strains isolated from 14 asym…