Discovery of Kaempferol,a Novel ADAM10 Inhibitor,as a Potential Treatment for Staphylococcus aureus Infection

Host-directed therapy(HDT)is an emerging novel approach for treating multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(S.aureus)infection.Functioning as the indispensable specific cellular receptor for a-toxin(Hla),a-disintegrin and metalloproteinase 10(ADAM10)is exploited to accelerate S.aureus infection through diverse mechanisms.The extraordinary contribution of ADAM10 to S.aureus pathogenesis renders it an attractive HDT target for combating S.aureus infection.Our study is the first to demonstrate the indispensable role of ADAM10 in S.aureus-induced necroptosis,and it enhances our knowledge of the role of ADAM10 in S.aureus infection.Using a fluorogenic substrate assay,we further identified kaempferol as a potent ADAM10 inhibitor that effectively protected mice from S.aureus infection by suppressing Hla-mediated barrier disruption and necroptosis.Collectively,our work presents a novel hostdirected therapeutic strategy for using the promising candidate kaempferol to treat S.aureus infection and other diseases relevant to the disordered upregulation of ADAM10.

Staphylococcus epidermidis meningitis in combination with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis A case report

A nine-year-old girl with Staphylococcus epidermidis meningitis combined with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis （ADEM） was enrolled in the present study, and exhibited sustained fever and headache for 5 days and a single seizure episode. Meningeal irritation and disturbance of consciousness were apparent. Cerebrospinal fluid examination revealed increased protein level and pleocytosis. Cerebrospinal fluid culture demonstrated Staphylococcus epidermidis growth. The patient was treated with intravenous cefotaxime, intravenous dexamethasone, and decreasing intracranial pressure for 3 weeks. Seizures and fever symptoms improved, but disturbance of consciousness, muscle weakness, and bilateral limb paresis were significant. IgG index was elevated and oligoclonal bands were positive in the cerebrospinal fluid. Magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated high T2-weighted signals in subcortical white matter, which were consistent with ADEM. High-dose methylprednisolone for 3 days and a 6-day pulse therapy with immunoglobulins resulted in improved clinical symptoms and cerebrospinal fluid examination. The patient＇s temperature dropped to normal, and the headache disappeared. A Staphylococcus epidermidis infection associated with ADEM is uncommon in children. Results suggested that Staphylococcus epidermidis infection could be a pathogenic factor for ADEM, and ADEM is a complication of Staphylococcus epidermidis meningitis.

Multi‑omics integration identifies regulatory factors underlying bovine subclinical mastitis

Background Mastitis caused by multiple factors remains one of the most common and costly disease of the dairy industry.Multi-omics approaches enable the comprehensive investigation of the complex interactions between mul-tiple layers of information to provide a more holistic view of disease pathogenesis.Therefore,this study investigated the genomic and epigenomic signatures and the possible regulatory mechanisms underlying subclinical mastitis by integrating RNA sequencing data(mRNA and lncRNA),small RNA sequencing data(miRNA)and DNA methylation sequencing data of milk somatic cells from 10 healthy cows and 20 cows with naturally occurring subclinical mastitis caused by Staphylococcus aureus or Staphylococcus chromogenes.Results Functional investigation of the data sets through gene set analysis uncovered 3458 biological process GO terms and 170 KEGG pathways with altered activities during subclinical mastitis,provided further insights into subclin-ical mastitis and revealed the involvement of multi-omics signatures in the altered immune responses and impaired mammary gland productivity during subclinical mastitis.The abundant genomic and epigenomic signatures with sig-nificant alterations related to subclinical mastitis were observed,including 30,846,2552,1276 and 57 differential methylation haplotype blocks(dMHBs),differentially expressed genes(DEGs),lncRNAs(DELs)and miRNAs(DEMs),respectively.Next,5 factors presenting the principal variation of differential multi-omics signatures were identified.The important roles of Factor 1(DEG,DEM and DEL)and Factor 2(dMHB and DEM),in the regulation of immune defense and impaired mammary gland functions during subclinical mastitis were revealed.Each of the omics within Factors 1 and 2 explained about 20%of the source of variation in subclinical mastitis.Also,networks of impor-tant functional gene sets with the involvement of multi-omics signatures were demonstrated,which contributed to a comprehensive view of the possible regulatory mechanisms underlying subclinical mastitis.Furthermore,multi-omics integration enabled the association of the epigenomic regulatory factors(dMHBs,DELs and DEMs)of altered genes in important pathways,such as‘Staphylococcus aureus infection pathway’and‘natural killer cell mediated cyto-toxicity pathway’,etc.,which provides further insights into mastitis regulatory mechanisms.Moreover,few multi-omics signatures(14 dMHBs,25 DEGs,18 DELs and 5 DEMs)were identified as candidate discriminant signatures with capac-ity of distinguishing subclinical mastitis cows from healthy cows.Conclusion The integration of genomic and epigenomic data by multi-omics approaches in this study provided a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying subclinical mastitis and identified multi-omics candidate discriminant signatures for subclinical mastitis,which may ultimately lead to the development of more effective mastitis control and management strategies.

Establishment of Multi-Site Infection Model in Zebrafish Larvae for Studying Staphylococcus aureus Infectious Disease

Zebrafish（Danio rerio） is an ideal model for studying the mechanism of infectious disease and the interaction between host and pathogen.As a teleost,zebrafish has developed a complete immune system which is similar to mammals.Moreover,the easy acquirement of large amounts of transparent embryos makes it a good candidate for gene manipulation and drug screening.In a zebrafish infection model,all of the site,timing,and dose of the bacteria microinjection into the embryo are important factors that determine the bacterial infection of host.Here,we established a multi-site infection model in zebrafish larvae of 36 hours post-fertilization（hpf） by micro-injecting wild-type or GFP-expressing Staphylococcus aereus（5.aureus） with gradient burdens into different embryo sites including the pericardial cavity（PC）,eye,the fourth hindbrain ventricle（4V）,yolk circulation valley（YCV）,caudal vein（CV）,yolk body（YB）,and Duct of Cuvier（DC） to resemble human infectious disease.With the combination of GFP-expressing S.aureus and transgenic zebrafish Tg（corola：eGFP;lyz：Dsred） and Tg（lyz：Dsred） lines whose macrophages or neutrophils are fluorescent labeled,we observed the dynamic process of bacterial infection by in vivo multicolored confocal fluorescence imaging.Analyses of zebrafish embryo survival, bacterial proliferation and myeloid cells phagocytosis show that the site- and dose-dependent differences exist in infection of different bacterial entry routes.This work provides a consideration for the future study of pathogenesis and host resistance through selection of multi-site infection model.More interaction mechanisms between pathogenic bacteria virulence factors and the immune responses of zebrafish could be determined through zebrafish multi-site infection model.