Bacillus anthracis interacts with plasmin(ogen) to evade C3b-dependent innate immunity.

ABSTRACT: The causative agent of anthrax, Bacillus anthracis, is capable of circumventing the humoral and innate immune defense of the host and modulating the blood chemistry in circulation to initiate a productive infection. It has been shown that the pathogen employs a number of strategies against immune cells using secreted pathogenic factors such as toxins. However, interference of B. anthracis with the innate immune system through specific interaction of the spore surface with host proteins such as the complement system has heretofore attracted little attention. In order to assess the mechanisms by which B. anthracis evades the defense system, we employed a proteomic analysis to identify human serum proteins interacting with B. anthracis spores, and found that plasminogen (PLG) is a major surfa

SUBMITTER: Chung MC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3064659 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature