Staphylococcus aureus Toxins: Armaments for a Significant Pathogen

Abstract

Staphylococcus species are common inhabitants of humans and other animals [...]

Staphylococcus aureus Exotoxins and Their Detection in the Dairy Industry and Mastitis

“…Fang and collaborators applied purified staphylococcal enterotoxin C to murine mammary glands and demonstrated that the treatment produces a significant increase in proinflammatory cytokines, as compared to the untreated controls [17]. Furthermore, mice treatment with anti-staphylococcal enterotoxin C antibodies, significantly reduced tissue damage and mammary gland inflammation; this confirms, which means that staphylococcal enterotoxin C is involved in mastitis development [5]. However, it is not yet known how enterotoxins contribute to the development of mastitis [13], although some reports indicate that the superantigen toxins can diminish the host immune response [16].…”

“…The association of SAgs, MHC class II, and the TCR β-chain constitute an unconventional T cell activation complex provoking a massive T cell response [3] (Figure 1). Furthermore, the first community-associated methicillin-resistant S. aureus (CA-MRSA) strain described contained acquired pathogenicity islands (SaPIs) encompassing new exotoxin genes [5]. In addition, mobile genetic elements can contain enterotoxin genes; these elements include plasmids, prophages, and genetic cassettes, such as the staphylococcal cassette chromosome (SCC) and the enterotoxin gene clusters (egc) [11].…”

“…This bacterial pathogen can produce a variety of extracellular proteins, known as exotoxins, that include enterotoxins, hemolysins, and leukocidins. The latter destroy white blood cells, while enterotoxins can stimulate the host T cells and cause a cytokine storm [5]. In milk-producing ruminants, S. aureus is normally the major cause of mammary gland inflammation, referred to as mastitis [6].…”

A Label-Free Fluorescent Aptasensor for Detection of Staphylococcal Enterotoxin A Based on Aptamer-Functionalized Silver Nanoclusters

“…It often contaminates the foods such as meat, poultry, eggs, milk, and dairy products [5][6][7][8][9][10]. Moreover, the intake of SEA up to 50 ng (body weights of 70 kg) [11] can cause food poisoning and other diseases, as well as the exacerbation of various diseases [12,13]. For instance, it is also likely to cause life-threatening toxic shock [14,15].…”

“…For instance, it is also likely to cause life-threatening toxic shock [14,15]. Additionally, the cooking process may not eliminate the toxin in the contaminated food because of heat-resistant [13], proteolytically stable, and small monomeric proteins (molecular weight (MW) = 27 kDa) of SEA that can resist a series of harsh conditions [16].…”