Toxic shock-like syndrome (TSLS) is characterized by hypotension or shock, fever, multiorgan system involvement, and a concurrent group A streptococcal infection. We analyzed 34 streptococcal strains isolated from patients with clinically well-documented TSLS for their pyrogenic toxin profiles and M-protein types. Although strains of nine different M types were represented in the sample, 74% of...

Exotoxin A is a major virulence factor of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This toxin binds to a specific receptor on animal cells, allowing endocytosis of the toxin. Once in endosomes, the exotoxin can be processed by furin to generate a C-terminal toxin fragment that lacks the receptor binding domain and is retrogradely transported to the endoplasmic reticulum for retrotranslocation to the cytosol thr...

OBJECTIVE To determine if clinically used botulinum exotoxin A (Botox) injections to the forehead and glabellar and crow's-feet regions result in modifications of eyebrow position. DESIGN Prospective study. SETTING Academic medical center in St Louis, Mo. SUBJECTS Twenty-nine adult patients treated with botulinum exotoxin A injections for rhytids. INTERVENTION The eyebrow position at 13...

Mutants of Bacillus thuringiensis lacking either beta-exotoxin or gamma-endotoxin were compared for their virulence using pupae of a giant silk moth. Known doses of viable log-phase bacteria were injected, and the response was followed as the number of viable bacteria in the hemolymph. The results obtained imply that, in the system used, neither the beta-exotoxin nor the gamma-endotoxin and the...

K1 is a monoclonal antibody that reacts with a cell surface antigen (CAK1) found in human mesothelia and nonmucinous ovarian tumors. In this article, the characteristics of the CAK1 antigen have been examined in detail. Using immunofluorescence microscopy, we have found that the CAK1 signal is removed from the cell surface by treatment with proteases or by phosphatidylinositol-phospholipase C, ...

The CD4 molecule is a high affinity receptor for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) envelope glycoprotein (gpl60 or gpl20). This glycoprotein is expressed on the surface membrane of cells infected with HIV. It has, therefore, been suggested that a soluble form ofCD4 might be used as a targeting agent to deliver toxins selectively to cells infected with HIV. We demonstrate that CD4-Pseudomon...

As beta-haemolytic streptococci can be cultured in people with and in those without a sore throat, a case-control study was set up in 43 family practices in The Netherlands. The association was tested between the number of colony counts, specific T/M types and exotoxin genes and an acute sore throat. Duplicate throat swabs were taken from 663 sore-throat patients, selected by clinical criteria,...

Silkworms are invertebrate animals that are killed by bacteria pathogenic against humans, such as Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Vibrio cholerae. Injection into the hemolymph of antibiotics that are clinically used for human patients abolishes the killing effects. There are several advantages to using silkworms as an infection model, such as low cost,...

Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), particularly strains with type III staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec), represent a serious human pathogen in Tehran, Iran. The disease-causing capability depends on their ability to produce a wide variety of virulent factors. The prevalence of exotoxin genes and multiple-locus variable number of tandem repeats fingerprinting (MLVF...