In a paper appearing online on October 20 in advance of print publication of the November issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Laurent Genestier and colleagues from INSERM demonstrate that Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) induces polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) apoptosis by directly targeting mitochondria. PVL is a toxin secreted by Staphylococcus aureus that is associated with necrotizing pneumonia.

The authors show that PVL creates pores in the mitochondrial outer membrane. Furthermore the apoptosis detected in vivo in patients who died from necrotizing pneumonia suggests that apoptosis could be directly involved in the pathology of necrotizing pneumonia.

This is important since S. aureus necrotizing pneumonia is rapidly and highly lethal in young immunocompetent patients and antibiotic therapy frequently fails.

TITLE: Staphylocccus aureus Panton-Valentine leukocidin directly targets mitochondria and induces Bax-independent apoptosis of human neutrophils

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Stacie Bloom
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