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Writer's pictureAlex McCarthy

🚨 New Paper Alert 🚨 Streptococcus pyogenes & puerperal sepsis

Our new paper from Erin Catton - PhD student in the lab - was published in April in Nature Communications. Congratulations Erin and all our collaborators.


Life-threatening bacterial infections in women after childbirth, known as puerperal sepsis, resulted in classical epidemics and remain a global health problem. Outbreaks of life-threatening bacterial infections in women after childbirth arose in the 18th Century and are ascribed to Streptococcus pyogenes (also known as Group A Streptococcus or Strep A) that express an adhesin called R28. In this project, we show that these bacteria target a human immune receptor called CEACAM1. We investigated the mechanism of interactions using structural and biochemical approaches, and the functions of these interactions using cell and tissue infection models.


We found


  • The R28 protein binds to CEACAM1 with high specificity.

  • The interaction promotes the adhesion of S. pyogenes to cervical epithelial cells and suppresses closure of wounds within cervical cell monolayers.

  • R28-CEACAM1 interactions enhance the innate immune response against S. pyogenes, including suppression of cytokine production, phagocytosis and killing.


In collaboration with Daniel Bonsor, Carolina Herrera, Margaretha Stålhammar-Carlemalm, Mykola Lyndin, Claire Turner, Jo Soden, Jos van Strijp, Bernhard Singer, Nina van Sorge, and Gunnar Lindahl G.


In memory of Bernhard Singer


Human CEACAM1 is targeted by a Streptococcus pyogenes adhesin implicated in puerperal sepsis pathogenesis


Catton EA, Bonsor DA, Herrera C, Stålhammar-Carlemalm M, Lyndin M, Turner CE, Soden J, van Strijp JAG, Singer BB, van Sorge NM, Lindahl G, McCarthy AJ.


Nat Commun. 2023 Apr 20;14(1):2275. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-37732-1.


https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-37732-1



Artwork of S. pyogenes by Medicosage

(https://medicosage.com/streptococcus-pyogenes/)


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