Staphylococcus aureus is the leading cause of skin infections. In a mouse model of S. aureus skin infection, we found that lesion size did not correlate with bacterial burden. Athymic nude mice had smaller skin lesions that contained lower levels of myeloperoxidase, IL-17A, and CXCL1, compared with wild type mice, although there was no difference in bacterial burden. T cell deficiency did not e...

Neutrophils release decondensed chromatin termed neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) to trap and kill pathogens extracellularly. Reactive oxygen species are required to initiate NET formation but the downstream molecular mechanism is unknown. We show that upon activation, neutrophil elastase (NE) escapes from azurophilic granules and translocates to the nucleus, where it partially degrades sp...

Granulocytes from the peripheral blood of normal subjects and a patient with hereditary myeloperoxidase deficiency were homogenized in 0.34 M sucrose. A granule-rich fraction, prepared by sedimentation at 27,000 x g for 20 min, contained components that killed C. parapsilosis in vitro. These were extractable with 0.01 M citric acid and were shown by micropreparative polyacrylamide electrophores...

The phagocytic, bactericidal, and metabolic activities of monocytes from patients with congenital neutropenia were not significantly different than the activities of monocytes from patients with cyclic neutropenia or chronic infections. However, significant differences in metabolic, phagocytic, and bactericidal functions were found between monocytes from any source and normal neutrophils. Durin...

Phagocytes generate H2O2 for use by a secreted heme enzyme, myeloperoxidase, to kill invading bacteria, viruses, and fungi. We have explored the possibility that myeloperoxidase might also convert L-tyrosine to a radical catalyst that cross-links proteins. Protein-bound tyrosyl residues exposed to myeloperoxidase, H2O2, and L-tyrosine were oxidized to o,o'-dityrosine, a stable product of the ty...

Elevated levels of myeloperoxidase have been demonstrated in women with preeclampsia where it may contribute to endothelial dysfunction mediated, in part, by nitric oxide impairment. In this study, we investigated myeloperoxidase in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and its contribution to the impairment of the vasodilator nitric oxide. We found higher levels of myeloperoxidase in supernatant...