Staphylococcus aureus lipoproteins promote abscess formation in mice, shielding bacteria from immune killing

Abstract

Despite being a major bacterial factor in alerting the human immune system, the role of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) lipoproteins (Lpp) in skin infections remains largely unknown. Here, we demonstrated that subcutaneous injection of S. aureus Lpp led to infiltration of neutrophils and monocytes/macrophages and induced skin lesions in mice. Lipid-moiety of S. aureus Lpp and host TLR2 was responsible for such effect. Lpp-deficient S. aureus strains exhibited smaller lesion size and reduced bacterial loads than their parental strains; the altered phenotype in bacterial loads was TLR2-independent. Lpp expression in skin infections contributed to imbalanced local hemostasis toward hypercoagulable state. Depletion of leukocytes or fibrinogen abrogated the effects induced by Lpp in terms of skin lesions and bacterial burden. Our data suggest that S. aureus Lpp induce skin inflammation and promote abscess formation that protects bacteria from innate immune killing. This suggests an intriguing bacterial immune evasion mechanism.