ArticlePLoS pathogens2014
Bacterial superantigens promote acute nasopharyngeal infection by Streptococcus pyogenes in a human MHC Class II-dependent manner.
Article in PLoS pathogens, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 66 papers.
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
66 citing papers in PubMed, 108 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparing virulence profile of dominantInfectious diseases & immunity · 2026Article
- A protease-sensing circuit links neutrophil inflammation to virulence regulation inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Acquisition of toxin-encoding lysogenic bacteriophage elements enhances the virulence of pandemicInfection and immunity · 2026Article
- Group A Streptococcal Virulence Factors and Vaccine Development-An Update.Microorganisms · 2026Review
- TheJournal of bacteriology · 2025Article
- Comparison of pharyngeal and invasive isolates ofMicrobiology spectrum · 2025Article
- Proinflammatory synergy between protease and superantigen streptococcal pyogenic exotoxins.Infection and immunity · 2025Article
- TSST-1 promotes colonization ofInfection and immunity · 2025Article
- Two homologous sequences of Grp78 and HSP70 represent tumor antigens shared with streptococcal superantigens in eliciting an antitumor immune response: an immunoinformatic investigation.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- Group A streptococcal infections in Alberta, Canada 2018-2023.Epidemiology and infection · 2024Article
- The intricate pathogenicity of Group AVirulence · 2024Review
- Review
- Novel insights into the immune response to bacterial T cell superantigens.Nature reviews. Immunology · 2024Review
- The germ theory revisited: A noncentric view on infection outcome.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Interplay between group AMicrobiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2024Review
- Streptolysin S is required for Streptococcus pyogenes nasopharyngeal and skin infection in HLA-transgenic mice.PLoS pathogens · 2024Article
- Group A Streptococcus interactions with the host across time and space.Current opinion in microbiology · 2024Review
- Insights gained from sequencing Australian non-invasive and invasiveMicrobial genomics · 2024Article
- Host Transcriptional Regulatory Genes and Microbiome Networks Crosstalk through Immune Receptors Establishing Normal and Tumor Multiomics Metafirm of the Oral-Gut-Lung Axis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Pathogenesis, epidemiology and control of Group A Streptococcus infection.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2023Review
6 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Establishing the genetic determinants of niche adaptation by microbial pathogens to specific hosts is important for the management and control of infectious disease. Streptococcus pyogenes is a globally prominent human-specific bacterial pathogen that secretes superantigens (SAgs) as 'trademark' virulence factors. SAgs function to force the activation of T lymphocytes through direct binding to lateral surfaces of T cell receptors and class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC-II) molecules. S. pyogenes invariably encodes multiple SAgs, often within putative mobile genetic elements, and although SAgs are documented virulence factors for diseases such as scarlet fever and the streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS), how these exotoxins contribute to the fitness and evolution of S. pyogenes is unknown. Here we show that acute infection in the nasopharynx is dependent upon both bacterial SAgs and host MHC-II molecules. S. pyogenes was rapidly cleared from the nasal cavity of wild-type C57BL/6 (B6) mice, whereas infection was enhanced up to ∼10,000-fold in B6 mice that express human MHC-II. This phenotype required the SpeA superantigen, and vaccination with an MHC -II binding mutant toxoid of SpeA dramatically inhibited infection. Our findings indicate that streptococcal SAgs are critical for the establishment of nasopharyngeal infection, thus providing an explanation as to why S. pyogenes produces these potent toxins. This work also highlights that SAg redundancy exists to avoid host anti-SAg humoral immune responses and to potentially overcome host MHC-II polymorphisms.
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.