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Digital Publisher

Digital Commons at St. Mary's University

Publication Date

Spring 2025

Keywords

Mycoplasma pneumoniae; respiratory distress syndrome ; respiratory distress syndrome ;

Description

Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a bacterium responsible for causing pneumonia in the lungs. M. pneumoniae is responsible for an average of 2 million cases of bacterial pneumonia in the United States each year (ASM Journal). When M. pneumonia infects the lungs, it releases community-acquired respiratory distress syndrome (CARDS toxin), which is capable of two enzymatic functions, vacuolization and ADP-ribosylation. ADPribosylation is found in the N-terminal domain of the protein, and the glutamic acid at amino acid residue 132 is critical for enzymatic function. There is evidence that the vacuolization function is encoded by the C-terminal of the protein. Preliminary findings in our lab have indicated that after intoxication, cells can release a fragment into the extracellular environment. The extracellular fragment is approximately 30-35 kDa in size, however its function and role in disease is still unknown. We hypothesize that during infection from M. pneumoniae, this fragment is being released in the environment from CARDSintoxicated cells and affecting the surrounding cells in the lung tissue. To test this, we used conditioned media from DB (control)- and CARDS toxin-treated A549 cells to treat human differentiated THP-1 macrophages. Macrophages were then challenged using a well established inflammasome activation protocol, and the inflammatory cytokine interleukin 1beta(IL-1β) was measured by ELISA. Throughout our study, our findings will help us determine if CARDS toxin can indirectly alter the immune response during M. pneumoniae infection, resulting in altered host defense and M. pneumoniae persistence and chronic infection

Format

pdf

Size

1 page

City

San Antonio, Texas

Mycoplasma Pneumoniae: Long-Term Effects on the Lungs

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