Siderophore of hypermucoviscous promotes liver damage in mice by inducing oxidative stress.

The hypermucoviscosity/hypervirulent (hvKP) is a dominant cause of pyogenic liver abscess (PLA) and has contributed to the endemicity of disease in Asian country. The siderophore aerobactin () is highly expressed in hvKP and acting virulence role during hvKP infection. However, its role in the PLA is poorly understood. We constructed deletion mutant (-hvKP852) and used animal study to characterize the role of siderophore in liver abscess. The animal experiments showed that -hvKP852 strain had lower virulence in mice compared to hvKP852 wild type strain. At 24 h after infection, only two of ten mice developed liver abscess during infection with -hvKP852 strain, while nine of ten mice infected with wild type hvKP852 strain showed multiple lesions of liver abscess. The liver tissue infected with -hvKP852 exhibited low reactive oxygen stress levels compared to those infected by wild type hvKP852 strain ( < 0.05). The results suggest that siderophore play an important role in the liver abscess by inducing oxidative stress.