Prevalence of M75 Streptococcus pyogenes Strains Harboring slaA Gene in Patients Affected by Pediatric Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome in Central Italy

Abstract

Recently we reported an association between pediatric obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) and Group A streptococcus (GAS) sub-acute chronic tonsil colonization. We showed that GAS may contribute to tonsil hyperplasia via a streptolysin O (SLO)-dependent cysteinyl leukotrienes (CysLTs) production, which can trigger T and B cell proliferation. In the present study, we characterized the GAS strains isolated from pediatric OSAS patients in comparison with a panel of age and sex matched GAS strains unrelated to OSAS, but isolated in the same area and during the same period ranging from 2009 to 2013. We found that slaA gene, previously reported to be associated to CysLTs production pathway, was significantly associated to GAS OSAS strains. Moreover, the most numerous group (32%) of the GAS OSAS strains belonged to M75 type, and 6 out of 7 of these strains harbored the slaA gene. Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST) experiments demonstrated that the clone emm75/ST49/ smeZ, slaA was associated to OSAS cases. In conclusion, we found an association between slaA gene and the GAS OSAS strains, and we showed that the clone emm75/ST49 harboring genes smeZ and slaA was exclusively isolated from patients affected by OSAS, thus suggesting that this genotype might be associated to the pathogenesis of OSAS, although further studies are needed to elucidate the possible role of SlaA in tonsil hypertrophy development.

Group A streptococcal pharyngitis: Immune responses involved in bacterial clearance and GAS-associated immunopathologies

“…CysLTs activated primary T and B cell proliferation in vitro, which might mediate the development of tonsil hypertrophy and thus, pediatric OSAS. A second study by the same authors identified the GAS virulence factor SlaA, which is reported to target the CysLT production pathway to also be associated with OSAS . The slaA gene was found in 45.5% of GAS strains isolated from OSAS patients.…”

“…A second study by the same authors identified the GAS virulence factor SlaA, which is reported to target the CysLT production pathway to also be associated with OSAS. 178 The slaA gene was found in 45.5% of GAS strains isolated from OSAS patients. SlaA cleaves the fatty acids palmitic and oleic acids to release arachidonic acid, which is then converted to leukotrienes and CysLTs by the 5-lipoxygenase pathway and may contribute to tonsil hypertrophy and thus, OSAS.…”

Pediatric Obstructive Sleep Apnea is Associated With Changes in the Oral Microbiome and Urinary Metabolomics Profile: A Pilot Study

“…The adenoids are now considered to be a pathogen reservoir, as evidenced by the presence of group A streptococcus, Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Moraxella catarrhalis, and Neisseria meningitidis. [12][13][14] Because the oral cavity and adenoids are structurally adjacent, the oral microbiota in pediatric OSA may be altered.…”

A Novel Amphibian Antimicrobial Peptide, Phylloseptin-PV1, Exhibits Effective Anti-staphylococcal Activity Without Inducing Either Hepatic or Renal Toxicity in Mice

“…Generally, AMPs are considered to form transmembrane pores, including carpet, barrel-stave, and toroidal pore-type models when the peptides reach a concentration threshold on the cell membrane (Gaspar et al, 2013). As showed in Figure 2D, PPV1 could extensively interact with the acyl region of the phospholipids to disintegrate bacterial cell membrane (Raja et al, 2013).…”