Characterising commensal and pathogenic staphylococcal interactions with neonatal and adult blood.

ABSTRACT: The abundant skin commensal, Staphylococcus epidermidis, is the leading cause of late-onset sepsis (LOS) in preterm infants but rarely causes infections in term infants and adults. Staphylococcal virulence mechanisms and the role of the preterm immune responses in driving these life-threatening infections remain poorly understood. Using an ex vivo sepsis model, we challenged whole blood from very preterm infants (30-32 weeks gestational age, GA; n = 8), term infants (> 37 weeks GA; n = 8), and young adults (18-25 years; n = 8) with either live S. epidermidis or S. aureus (~ 10⁷ colony-forming units, CFU/ml) for 90 min. Dual RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) was performed to simultaneously assess host and pathogen gene expression profiles, identifying common and pathogen-specific response

SUBMITTER: Joubert IA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12779975 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature