ArticleInvestigative ophthalmology & visual science2007
Cholesterol as treatment for pneumococcal keratitis: cholesterol-specific inhibition of pneumolysin in the cornea.
Article in Investigative ophthalmology & visual science, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pneumolysin as a target for new therapies against pneumococcal infections: A systematic review.PloS one · 2023Pooled it
- Loss of Streptococcus pneumoniae iga Causes More Severe Keratitis in Mice.Investigative ophthalmology & visual science · 2026Article
- Population structure of ocularMicrobial genomics · 2022Article
- Antimicrobial Tear Lipids in the Ocular Surface Defense.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2022Review
- Foundational concepts in the biology of bacterial keratitis.Experimental eye research · 2021Review
- Innovative Cold Atmospheric Plasma (iCAP) Decreases Mucopurulent Corneal Ulcer Formation and Edema and Reduces Bacterial Load inClinical plasma medicine · 2019Article
- The Role of Pneumococcal Virulence Factors in Ocular Infectious Diseases.Interdisciplinary perspectives on infectious diseases · 2018Review
- Insights into structure and activity of natural compound inhibitors of pneumolysin.Scientific reports · 2017Article
- Article
- Diet-induced alterations of host cholesterol metabolism are likely to affect the gut microbiota composition in hamsters.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2013Article
- Infectious keratitis: secreted bacterial proteins that mediate corneal damage.Journal of ophthalmology · 2013Article
- Article
- Active Immunization with Pneumolysin versus 23-Valent Polysaccharide Vaccine for Streptococcus pneumoniae Keratitis.Investigative ophthalmology & visual science · 2011Article
- Moxifloxacin and cholesterol combined treatment of pneumococcal keratitis.Current eye research · 2010Article
- Development of a Streptococcus pneumoniae keratitis model in mice.Ophthalmic research · 2009Article
- A comparison of pneumolysin activity and concentration in vitro and in vivo in a rabbit endophthalmitis model.Clinical ophthalmology (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2008Article
- Protection from Streptococcus pneumoniae keratitis by passive immunization with pneumolysin antiserum.Investigative ophthalmology & visual science · 2008Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
purposeThe purpose of this study was to determine whether cholesterol, the host cell receptor for pneumolysin of Streptococcus pneumoniae, could effectively treat pneumococcal keratitis.
methodsNew Zealand White rabbits were intrastromally injected with 10(5) colony-forming units (CFUs) of S. pneumoniae D39. Corneas were treated with topical drops of 1% cholesterol every 2 hours beginning 25 hours after infection and were examined by slit lamp microscopy 24, 36, and 48 hours after infection. Rabbits were killed, and CFUs were recovered from the corneas after the final slit lamp examination (SLE). Minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) assays of cholesterol against bacteria were performed. Specific inhibition of pneumolysin by cholesterol in the rabbit cornea was tested by intrastromal injection of pneumolysin with or without cholesterol and was compared with cholesterol inhibition of pneumolysin in vitro using hemolysis assays with rabbit erythrocytes.
resultsCorneas treated with cholesterol had significantly lower SLE scores 48 hours after infection than corneas treated with vehicle (P = 0.0015). Treated corneas also had significantly less log(10) CFUs than vehicle-treated corneas (P = 0.0006). Cholesterol at a 1% concentration was bactericidal to bacteria in vitro, and lower concentrations of cholesterol were partially inhibitory in a concentration-dependent manner. Cholesterol also specifically inhibited 1 mug pneumolysin in vivo and up to 50 ng pneumolysin in vitro.
conclusionsTopical cholesterol is an effective treatment for S. pneumoniae keratitis. Cholesterol not only inhibits pneumolysin, it is also bactericidal.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.