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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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