Vibrio vulnificus may produce a metalloprotease causing an edematous skin lesion in vivo.

Vibrio vulnificus, an opportunistic human pathogen, secretes a metalloprotease which has been suspected of being the causative factor for edematous skin lesions. The antibody against alpha-macroglobulin, the sole plasma inactivator of V. vulnificus metalloprotease, delayed clearance of the protease administered into dorsal skin, and increased the edema-forming ability of living bacterial cells. The derivative of the protease, which is resistant to the inactivating action of alpha-macroglobulin, was not excluded from the dorsal skin. Furthermore, the vibrio inoculated into the mammalian serum was found to produce the protease in adequate amounts. These results suggest that V. vulnificus secretes a metalloprotease into the interstitial-tissue space, resulting in the development of an edematous skin lesion, and that the protease is immediately inactivated by alpha-macroglobulin and subsequently excluded.