Evidence map›Paper›PMID 11598065›Full record

ArticleInfection and immunity2001

Diminished virulence of an alpha-toxin mutant of Staphylococcus aureus in experimental brain abscesses.

T Kielian, A Cheung, W F Hickey

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Infection and immunity, 2001. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 51 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
51citing papers in PubMed
2.8field-weighted citation impact, top 9% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

51 citing papers in PubMed, 110 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Infection and immunity · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Integrated genomic and proteomic analysis of the mouse-adaptedCurrent research in microbial sciences · 2025
    Article
  4. Forssman and the staphylococcal hemolysins.APMIS : acta pathologica, microbiologica, et immunologica Scandinavica · 2025
    Review
  5. Review
  6. Molecular Characteristics and Pathogenicity ofInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2023
    Review
  7. Characterization ofFrontiers in microbiology · 2023
    Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Review
  12. Article
  13. An Eye onToxins · 2019
    Review
  14. Microbiology spectrum · 2019
    Review
  15. Role of quorum sensing in bacterial infections.World journal of clinical cases · 2015
    Review
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Review
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

T KielianDepartment of Pathology, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Dartmouth Medical School, Lebanon, New Hampshire 03756, USA. KielianTammyL@uams.edu
A Cheung
W F Hickey
Bipar · FRDartmouth–Hitchcock Medical Center · US

Funding

THE PATHOGENESIS OF BRAIN ABSCESSR01NS040730 · NINDS · UNIV OF ARKANSAS FOR MED SCIS · PI KIELIAN, TAMMY L · 2001 to 2013
$3.4M
NINDS NIH HHS NS40730NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS040730
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus is one of the major etiologic agents of brain abscesses in humans, occasionally leading to focal neurological deficits and even death. The objective of the present study was to identify key virulence determinants contributing to the pathogenesis of S. aureus in the brain using a murine brain abscess model. The importance of virulence factor production in disease development was demonstrated by the inability of heat-inactivated S. aureus to induce proinflammatory cytokine or chemokine expression or brain abscess formation in vivo. To directly address the contribution of virulence determinants in brain abscess development, the abilities of S. aureus strains with mutations in the global regulatory loci sarA and agr were examined. An S. aureus sarA agr double mutant exhibited reduced virulence in vivo, as demonstrated by attenuated proinflammatory cytokine and chemokine expression and bacterial replication. Subsequent studies focused on the expression of factors that are altered in the sarA agr double mutant. Evaluation of an alpha-toxin mutant revealed a phenotype similar to that of the sarA agr mutant in vivo, as evidenced by lower bacterial burdens and attenuation of cytokine and chemokine expression in the brain. This suggested that alpha-toxin is a central virulence determinant in brain abscess development. Another virulence mechanism utilized by staphylococci is intracellular survival. Cells recovered from brain abscesses were shown to harbor S. aureus intracellularly, providing a means by which the organism may establish chronic infections in the brain. Together, these data identify alpha-toxin as a key virulence determinant for the survival of S. aureus in the brain.

Indexed as

Trans-ActivatorsAnimalsBacterial ProteinsBrain AbscessDisease Models, AnimalHeatingIntracellular FluidLipaseMaleMiceMice, Inbred AKRStaphylococcal InfectionsStaphylococcus aureusTranscription FactorsType C PhospholipasesVirulenceAgr protein, Staphylococcus aureusBacterial ProteinsLipaseSarA protein, bacterialTrans-ActivatorsTranscription FactorsType C Phospholipases

Identifiers

PMID11598065
PMCPMC100070
OpenAlexW2161672265

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.