ArticleCell host & microbe2017
Host-to-Host Transmission of Streptococcus pneumoniae Is Driven by Its Inflammatory Toxin, Pneumolysin.
Article in Cell host & microbe, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 88 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
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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.
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Who cites it
88 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 134 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pneumolysin as a target for new therapies against pneumococcal infections: A systematic review.PloS one · 2023Pooled it
- Desiccation tolerance as a driver of environmental persistence and transmission in nosocomial bacterial pathogens.Infection and immunity · 2026Review
- Bacterial and host factors affecting acquisition ofInfection and immunity · 2026Article
- Pneumococcus uses COMMD2 to alter host cellular immunity.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Influenza A Virus Coinfection AltersbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Disease-Attenuated Pneumococcal Biosynthesis Gene Mutants Invade the Mucosal Epithelium and Induce Innate Immunity.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Immune pathways that regulate neutrophil activation and replenishment prevent persistent pneumococcal colonization.PLoS pathogens · 2026Article
- Genomic and statistical models to characterizeMicrobial genomics · 2026Article
- Streptococcus pneumoniae adaptation to nutrient deprivation and immune modulation drives upper respiratory tract colonization.The ISME journal · 2026Article
- Bacterial and host factors affecting acquisition ofbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Alterations in nutrient availability in the lungs duringInfection and immunity · 2025Article
- The metabolic, microbial and immunological demands of pneumococcal colonisation.PLoS pathogens · 2025Review
- Mechanisms of bacterial host-to-host transmission.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2025Review
- Respiratory bacterial and viral pathogen spectrum among influenza-positive and influenza-negative patients.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Streptococcus pneumoniae epidemiology, pathogenesis and control.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2025Review
- Host Disease Tolerance Predicts Transmission Probability for a Songbird Pathogen.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- A novel drug that reduces pneumococcal toxicity by targeting pneumolysin (PLY): efficacy of the traditional Chinese medicineFrontiers in pharmacology · 2025Article
- Comparative analysis of theFrontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- Pneumococcal pneumonia is driven by increased bacterial turnover due to bacteriocin-mediated intra-strain competition.Communications biology · 2024Article
- Article
28 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Host-to-host transmission is a critical step for infection. Here we studied transmission of the opportunistic pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae in an infant mouse model. Transmission from nasally colonized pups required high levels of bacterial shedding in nasal secretions and was temporally correlated with, and dependent upon, the acute inflammatory response. Pneumolysin, a pore-forming cytotoxin and major virulence determinant, was both necessary and sufficient to promote inflammation, which increased shedding and allowed for intralitter transmission. Direct contact between pups was not required for transmission indicating the importance of an environmental reservoir. An additional in vivo effect of pneumolysin was to enhance bacterial survival outside of the host. Our findings provide experimental evidence of a microbial strategy for transit to new hosts and explain why an organism expresses a toxin that damages the host upon which it depends.
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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.