Article: Pneumococcal pneumolysin has cytolytic and complement-activating activities.

2003 JUN 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Mutation studies of Streptococcus pneumoniae toxin pneumolysin show that it has 2 activities: complement activation and cytolysis.

According to recent research published in the journal Infection and Immunity, "Pneumolysin, a multifunctional toxin produced by all clinical isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae, is strongly implicated in the pathogenesis of pneumococcal bronchopneumonia and septicemia.

"Using isogenic mutant strains, we examined the effect of deletion of the cytotoxic activity or complement-activating activity of pneumolysin on bacterial growth in lungs and blood, histological changes in infected ...

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