Klein N J, Ison C A, Peakman M, Levin M, Hammerschmidt S, Frosch M, Heyderman R S
Immunobiology Unit, Institute of Child Health, London, United Kingdom.
J Infect Dis. 1996 Jan;173(1):172-9. doi: 10.1093/infdis/173.1.172.
Host inflammatory response to meningococcal infection is believed to be a major determinant of disease severity. Isogenic mutants of Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B1940, which differ in expression of capsular polysaccharide and lipooligosaccharide (LOS), were used to examine host responses in a whole blood model of bacteremia and a model of endothelial injury. The parent organism caused significantly less neutrophil shedding of the adhesion molecule, L-selectin, than the three mutant organisms (P < .01) and was most resistant to the bactericidal activity of whole blood. Despite marked differences in bacterial adhesion to endothelial cells (P < .05), no damage was induced by organisms alone. Endothelial injury was observed when neutrophils were incubated with adherent, capsule-deficient organisms (P < .05). The degree of endothelial damage was related to the number of neutrophils adherent to the endothelium. Thus, bacterial capsulation and LOS structure can influence neutrophil activation and endothelial injury and, as such, may be important in the pathogenesis of meningococcal sepsis.
宿主对脑膜炎球菌感染的炎症反应被认为是疾病严重程度的主要决定因素。利用B1940血清群脑膜炎奈瑟菌的同基因突变体（其荚膜多糖和脂寡糖（LOS）表达不同），在菌血症全血模型和内皮损伤模型中检测宿主反应。亲本菌株引起的黏附分子L-选择素的中性粒细胞脱落明显少于三种突变菌株（P < 0.01），并且对全血的杀菌活性最具抗性。尽管细菌对内皮细胞的黏附存在显著差异（P < 0.05），但单独的菌株不会诱导损伤。当中性粒细胞与黏附的、缺乏荚膜的菌株一起孵育时，可观察到内皮损伤（P < 0.05）。内皮损伤程度与黏附在内皮上的中性粒细胞数量有关。因此，细菌的荚膜形成和LOS结构可影响中性粒细胞活化和内皮损伤，因此可能在脑膜炎球菌败血症的发病机制中起重要作用。
