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Infection and Immunity, October 1999, p. 5345-5351, Vol. 67, No. 10
0019-9567/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Neutropenia Restores Virulence to an Attenuated Cu,Zn Superoxide Dismutase-Deficient Haemophilus ducreyi Strain in the Swine Model of Chancroid

Lani R. San Mateo,1 Kristen L. Toffer,1 Paul E. Orndorff,2 and Thomas H. Kawula1,*

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599,1 and Department of Microbiology, Pathology and Parasitology, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 276062

Received 22 June 1999/Accepted 21 July 1999

Haemophilus ducreyi causes chancroid, a sexually transmitted cutaneous genital ulcer disease associated with increased heterosexual transmission of human immunodeficiency virus. H. ducreyi expresses a periplasmic copper-zinc superoxide dismutase (Cu,Zn SOD) that protects the bacterium from killing by exogenous superoxide in vitro. We hypothesized that the Cu,Zn SOD would protect H. ducreyi from immune cell killing, enhance survival, and affect ulcer development in vivo. In order to test this hypothesis and study the role of the Cu,Zn SOD in H. ducreyi pathogenesis, we compared a Cu,Zn SOD-deficient H. ducreyi strain to its isogenic wild-type parent with respect to survival and ulcer development in immunocompetent and immunosuppressed pigs. The Cu,Zn SOD-deficient strain was recovered from significantly fewer inoculated sites and in significantly lower numbers than the wild-type parent strain or a merodiploid (sodC+ sodC) strain after infection of immunocompetent pigs. In contrast, survival of the wild-type and Cu,Zn SOD-deficient strains was not significantly different in pigs that were rendered neutropenic by treatment with cyclophosphamide. Ulcer severity in pigs was not significantly different between sites inoculated with wild type and sites inoculated with Cu,Zn SOD-deficient H. ducreyi. Our data suggest that the periplasmic Cu,Zn SOD is an important virulence determinant in H. ducreyi, protecting the bacterium from host immune cell killing and contributing to survival and persistence in the host.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, CB #7290, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC 27599. Phone: (919) 966-9699. Fax: (919) 962-8103. E-mail: kawula{at}med.unc.edu.

Infection and Immunity, October 1999, p. 5345-5351, Vol. 67, No. 10
0019-9567/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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