Background: The most frequent pathogen that causes bacterial meningitis is the Gram-positive bacterium Streptococcus (S.) pneumoniae. CCAAT/enhancer binding protein δ is a transcription factor that has recently been hypothesized to play a detrimental role in outcome of meningitis caused by S. pneumoniae. Here, we studied the role of C/EBPδ prior to the development of pneumococcal meningitis. Methods: Wild-type and C/EBPδ-deficient mice (C/EBPδ-/ -) were intraveneously infected with S. pneumoniae and sacrificed after 24 or 48 h. cebpδ expression, bacterial loads, inflammatory response and pathology in the brain were assessed. Results: S. pneumoniae induces cebpδ expression in the brain during blood-borne brain infection. In comparison to wild-type mice, C/EBPδ-/ - animals showed decreased bacterial loads in blood and brain 48 h after inoculation. In the blood compartment, the host inflammatory response was significantly lower upon infection in C/EBPδ-/ - mice as compared to wild-type mice. Conclusion: C/EBPδ facilitates bacterial dissemination to the brain and enhances the immune response in the blood compartment. Our study suggests that C/EBPδ plays a detrimental role during the initial development of blood-borne brain infection.
CITATION STYLE
Duitman, J. W., Valls Serón, M., Engelen-Lee, J. Y., Brouwer, M. C., Spek, C. A., & van de Beek, D. (2016). Detrimental role for CCAAT/enhancer binding protein δ in blood-borne brain infection. BMC Infectious Diseases, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-016-1963-7
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